California deputy minister shoots suspected gunman

The California sheriff shot a suspected burglar in the head as he appeared to reach for a gun during a violent struggle, video shows.

Scene, released Tuesday by the Orange County Sheriff’s Departmentshows suspect Ernesto Aguilar, 30, being escorted out of a Walmart in Lake Forest on January 19 after an employee called police to report a possible burglary.

When Aguilar and a woman accompanying him were asked to leave the store, one of the deputies who responded discovered that he had a knife, the footage showed.

“Don’t reach for it,” said another deputy minister. “Take your f-king hand off the knife.”

“Sorry, sorry, sorry, sir,” Aguilar replied.

Deputies then attempted to put Aguilar in handcuffs as he began to resist, causing a violent struggle that ended with him on the ground and a bullet to the head after he appeared with a gun at his hip, the clip shows.

“He has a gun, he has a gun,” shouted a deputy minister. “Shoot him, shoot him!”

Footage shows a third deputy then shooting Aguilar in the head as a civilian at Walmart watches.

“Shoot him, shoot him,” said the man. “Beautiful beautiful beautiful.”

Footage released on Tuesday appeared to show Aguilar reaching for a gun in the altercation that then left him handcuffed.

Aguilar, who begged for help when he said he was “going to die”, miraculously survived, Los Angeles Times reported. He was later charged with assaulting a peace officer and possessing a gun that lacked a serial number, sheriff officials said.

Aguilar, of Santa Ana, who had surgery at the hospital after the shooting, was recovering in prison Tuesday, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office told the Los Angeles Times. He remains in custody instead of bail set at nearly $2.3 million, county records show.

Meanwhile, Orange County prosecutors are investigating the shooting to determine whether the deputies involved were acting in accordance with department law and policy, Sheriff Jeff Hallock said.

Hallock said of the ongoing investigation: “A shooting involving a deputy requires the highest level of oversight and is precisely an issue of public concern.