A 57-year-old man was fatally shot during a confrontation with Murrieta police officers, who forcibly entered his apartment in response to sounds of a domestic struggle, authorities said Thursday.
The officer-involved shooting happened about 11:50 p.m. Wednesday at the Pacific Landing Apartments, in the 36100 block of Creighton Avenue, just south of Clinton Keith Road, according to the Murrieta Police Department.
Capt. Jeremy Durrant said that patrol officers were called to the location to investigate reports of a domestic altercation, and after knocking on the apartment door, they heard “signs of distress.”
The officers “made a forced entry” and “encountered the male armed with a handgun,” Durrant said.
“During that encounter, an officer-involved shooting occurred, and the male resident was struck with gunfire,” the captain said.
The woman in the unit, whose identity was not disclosed, was not injured, nor were any of the patrol personnel.
Durrant said that the man, whose identity was pending release by the Riverside County Coroner’s Office, was taken to a regional trauma center, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The officers involved, whose identities were not provided, were placed on paid administrative leave, according to Durrant.
He said the matter was turned over to the sheriff’s Force Investigations Detail, per police department policy, for analysis and a determination as to whether the shooting was justified.