A suspect who fled into a San Diego adult bookstore used a flammable liquid and open flame to burn a police dog and three officers before an officer shot and killed him, the latest in a string of volatile, life-threatening confrontations facing law enforcement.
San Diego police responded Wednesday morning to the 2900 block of 30th Street in the city's North Park neighborhood after reports that someone was trying to break into vehicles. Officers found the suspect acting violently and gave chase on foot. The man ran into a nearby adult bookstore, where the situation turned dangerous fast.
Police determined the suspect had a flammable liquid and had produced a large flame inside the store. Officers sent in a K-9 named Ryder along with several colleagues. What followed left the dog burned on its face, three officers injured, and the suspect dead, and raised fresh questions about the risks officers face when cornered suspects turn to fire as a weapon.
Ryder took the flame first
The San Diego Police Department confirmed that the suspect turned the flame directly on the K-9. "He used that flame on a police canine named Ryder," the department stated. Three officers also sustained burns during the encounter, though the department's own account left the mechanism vague: "Additionally three officers received burns by unknown means."
Officers initially tried to subdue the suspect with bean bags. It did not work.
Video from the scene captured multiple gunshots coming from inside the building. The suspect allegedly set himself on fire while advancing toward officers and, at the same time, attempted to ignite the building itself. An officer opened fire, shooting multiple rounds.
Witnesses outside watched as the suspect was removed from the store still burning. One witness, quoted by Fox 5 San Diego, described the scene bluntly:
"The body was on fire. His whole stomach was on fire. It was awful."
An officer provided aid to the suspect as he lay on the ground, according to video from the scene. He was transported to a hospital and later pronounced dead.
K-9 Ryder expected to recover fully
Ryder was carried out of the bookstore and loaded into a police vehicle. The dog was rushed to a veterinary hospital, where he was treated for burns to his face. He has since been released and is expected to make a full recovery.
The three officers who sustained burns were taken for emergency medical treatment. The department did not identify any of the officers by name, and it has not disclosed whether they were hospitalized or released after treatment. The extent of their injuries remains unclear.
Incidents like this one, where officers face immediate, unconventional threats inside confined spaces, are not isolated. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, an officer was recently cleared after a fatal shooting involving a knife-wielding man who went on an hours-long rampage, another case where police had to make split-second lethal-force decisions against an armed and erratic suspect.
Sheriff's office now leads the shooting investigation
The San Diego County Sheriff's Office is investigating the officer-involved shooting, a standard protocol when a local police officer discharges a weapon and someone dies. The department has not named the officer who fired.
Several basic facts remain unknown. Police have not publicly identified the suspect, his name, age, and any prior criminal history have not been released. The type of flammable liquid he carried and the device he used to produce the flame have not been disclosed. The department also has not said how many officers were inside the bookstore during the standoff, how many rounds the officer fired, or what damage the building sustained.
The adult bookstore where the standoff unfolded has not been identified by name in available reporting. No motive has been offered for the suspect's initial attempt to break into vehicles or for his decision to barricade himself inside the store and turn a flame on officers and a police dog.
Attacks on law enforcement, whether with knives, explosives, or fire, have drawn increasing attention. In California, a former Navy SEAL was convicted after a store clerk foiled a plot to target police with explosives at a protest, a reminder that threats against officers take many forms and come from many directions.
Officers walked into a building they knew held a flame
One detail in the department's account stands out. Police said they determined the suspect had flammable liquid and had already produced a large flame before they sent Ryder and officers inside. That decision, to deploy a K-9 and personnel into a confined space with a suspect already wielding fire, will likely face scrutiny as the sheriff's investigation proceeds.
Whether the department had other options, or whether the suspect's behavior made immediate entry necessary to protect people nearby, has not been addressed publicly. The department's statement that three officers received burns "by unknown means" suggests even investigators are still piecing together exactly what happened inside.
Dramatic, high-stakes police entries are not new. In Olympia, Washington, a SWAT team used a chainsaw to breach an apartment to arrest a repeat-offender assault suspect, the kind of extreme tactic departments resort to when conventional approaches fail.
For now, the San Diego officers are recovering. Ryder is home. And the man who turned a bookstore into an inferno is dead. The sheriff's office will determine whether the officer's use of force was justified. But the officers and the dog who walked into that building did so knowing a fire was already burning, and they went in anyway.
That is the part of policing its loudest critics never have to do themselves.
