Deputy Shoots Armed 'Suicidal' Septuagenarian Man Outside Vista Church

VISTA, CA — A sheriff's deputy shot and wounded an armed man threatening suicide outside a Vista church Sunday.

Around 12:30 p.m. Sunday, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department received a report of a disturbance at Iglesia Ni Cristo Church of Christ at 1418 Calle Jules, near East Bobier Drive, officials said.

Deputies saw the man, described as a 77-year-old Asian, leaving the church and going into the parking lot, holding a gun in his right hand. Witnesses said he had been holding the gun to his head inside the church. Deputies ordered him to drop the weapon, the sheriff's department claimed. When he refused, a three-year veteran of the department fired a shot, hitting him in the legs, prompting him to drop the weapon.

The man, whose name was not immediately released, was taken to a hospital for treatment. His wounds were not life-threatening, per the department.

Under a new protocol agreement between the sheriff's and police departments, police investigators will take over the shooting investigation.

It was not immediately known if there were any congregants in the church at the time of the shooting, nor whether the gunman was a member of the church.

Anyone with information on this shooting was asked to call the SDPD at 619-531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

— City News Service