Wednesday 9 am two police officers came to Banker Hill on complaint of a woman in San Diego. The woman was frightened as she thought that someone has broken into her apartment. The two police officers along with their dog reached the top floor of the 6 story building and noticed that the sliding door which was made of glass was broken.
They took out their guns and entered the penthouse. They were suddenly fired at from a slightly opened inside door. Luckily those fires missed to hit any of them. They also fired back and immediately moved outside. Realizing the sensitivity of the situation, officers called for the backup.
In few minutes there were sirens everywhere, SWAT entered the building. The whole block was surrounded by the police. Schools and streets were locked down and people were asked to stay in the buildings and not to come near windows. At nearby rooftops Snipers were placed. Aviation officials were also informed and all flights coming to San Diego Lindbergh Field were canceled.
There was an exchange of firing between the police and the gunman. Negotiators couldn’t convince him to surrender. Since he opened fire, SWAT had to throw tear gas shells in his apartment. Almost after 5 hours the gunman decided to surrender. He threw out his AK-47 rifle and let himself arrested. No one got injured in the whole shooting spree. Gunman was first taken to the hospital and later on to the county jail against charges of murder attempt of police officers and possession of the attacking rifle etc.
“I don’t live in a bad neighborhood. I don’t live in a bad building,” Hauptman, a local resident said. “So I was really surprised that this kind of event was happening. It didn’t fit the scene.”
Flights were resumed about 3 p.m. and planes started landing again. Since the departure flights take off to an opposite direction so it remained unaffected.
It was later discovered that gunman’s name was Titan Colbert who is affiliate of a drug dealer’s gang fighting over a territory in San Diego. 33-year-old Colbert already has a criminal record of drug dealing and serious assault. He has already been convicted in 2003, 2010 and 2012 in which he was also sentenced to jail for two years. His brother Tecumseh Colbert is on the Death Row. He killed Robert Anthony Richard Hammes and McCamey in 2004.
