Man Shot By Cop May Have Been Veteran With PTSD: Report

TUSTIN, CA — The armed suicidal man who was fatally wounded by Tustin police after firing a handgun during a standoff with officers may have been a veteran with PTSD, according to a report.

Officers were sent just after 7:10 p.m. Tuesday to 16282 E. Main St., on the border with Santa Ana, where the suspect had been spotted in a vehicle in an alley behind an apartment complex, said Tustin police Lt. Robert Wright.

The suspect, later identified as Edwin Fuentes of Tustin, displayed a handgun and refused to comply with orders, he said. The encounter tuned into a standoff during which the 24-year-old suspect fired rounds from his handgun while inside the vehicle, prompting an officer-involved shooting just before 9 p.m., Wright said.

Officers on the scene rendered first aid until paramedics arrived. Fuentes was pronounced dead at Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana at 9:29 p.m., according to the Sheriff-Coroner's Office. The Orange County District Attorney's Office will investigate, as it routinely does in officer-involved shootings.

A report in The Orange County Register says the man was an army veteran who struggled with PTSD.

By City News / Image via Shutterstock