Encinitas Shooting: Gunman Commits Suicide After Wounding Two Sheriff Deputies

Encinitas, CA – A California man who shot and wounded two San Diego County sheriff’s deputies Wednesday afternoon has reportedly committed suicide, ending a nearly eight-hour standoff with the SWAT squad.

Authorities said the suspect, identified as 22-year-old Evan Kwik by CBS8 News, killed himself in the early hours of Thursday morning.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the incident began in a neighborhood in Encinitas around 1 pm Wednesday with a woman reporting that her adult son had stolen her car after finding out she had filed a restraining order against him. At about 3 pm, the woman called back to say that the son had returned to the home.

Police reports say two patrol deputies responded and entered the home with the mother’s permission, found an area where they believed he was hiding, and established verbal contact with Kwik.

The San Diego Union Tribune notes the deputies spent several minutes negotiating but Kwik refused to come out and kept making threats, so they fired tear gas, and Kwik responded with gunfire, hitting both of them.

The wounded deputies were then evacuated and sent to hospitals, according to San Diego County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Melissa Aquino.

One of the deputies was wounded in the forehead and the other in the leg, according to Aquino. Both were expected to survive.

Hours after the deputies were shot, dozens of crisis negotiators and SWAT teams from around the county flocked to the scene and were in contact with the suspect for several hours.

At 1:30 am Thursday, robots were sent into the home to check on Kwik, and, about 10 minutes after that, SWAT officers entered and found him dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

ABC 10 News has more on the Encinitas shooting in the video below:

According to the Times, the Encinitas incident was the second within months in which San Diego deputies were wounded. In September, two deputies were injured in a gun battle with a child-abuse suspect in Lakeside.

Both survived and underwent surgery.