2012-07-04 "Vallejo police shoot, kill suspect who reportedly was choking woman" from "Vallejo Times Herald"
VTH posted this article at 4pm, July 4th, accumulating 88 comments (many of them being racist and classist) before being erased 22 hours later...
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Vallejo police officers shot and killed a 44-year-old Vallejo man early Wednesday who police said pulled a gun on them despite being Tasered.
It was the sixth officer-involved shooting in recent weeks, the fourth since May 25, in which a suspect died, and the second in the past five days. The dead suspect was identified as Marshall Tobin.
In a press release, police said they received a call at 2:55 a.m. about a domestic violence incident in which a male adult was striking and possibly choking a woman in the 100 block of Buss Avenue. Vallejo Sgt. Herman Robinson said the woman's teenage child called police.
As officers were responding, a second caller told Vallejo dispatchers that the suspect had driven to the Safeway market on Lincoln Road West and was parked near the gasoline pumps. The caller also told police the man was armed with a gun, and described Tobin's car.
When officers arrived and approached the vehicle, Tobin got out of his car, appeared upset, and a handgun was visible, police said.
Officers ordered Tobin a number of times to place his hand on his head, and when he didn't comply they deployed a Taser. Despite that, Tobin reached for his handgun, and was shot multiple times by two of the three officers and was dead at the scene. One officer received a moderate wound from flying debris, police said.
Robinson said a handgun was recovered at the scene, but did not know what type it was. He said that Tobin did not fire his weapon. He added that the woman who was reportedly attacked is "fine," but had no details about the nature of the disturbance other than it was a case of domestic violence.
Wednesday's shooting comes five days after robbery suspect Jared Huey, 17, of Vallejo, was shot to death Saturday by Vallejo police after he allegedly raised a gun at officers following a pursuit. In May, two other Vallejo men, Peter Mestler, 53, and Anton Barrett, 42, also died in officer-involved shootings this year. On May 25, Mestler reportedly pointed a replica pellet handgun at police after pointing it at several people. Three days later, Barrett who was being pursued by police, reportedly refused numerous times to surrender in an apartment complex and pulled out what an officer said he thought was a weapon. It turned out to be a metallic wallet. The recent officer-involved shooting deaths raised Vallejo's homicide total to 10 in 2012.
Police said the two officers involved in Wednesday's shooting have been placed on administrative leave, and the incident is being investigated by the department and the Solano County District Attorney's office.