One dead after stabbing of off-duty school officer on Fiesta Island leads to shooting

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — San Diego police are investigating the fatal shooting of a man on Fiesta Island Wednesday by an off-duty officer from the San Diego Community College District Police Department after a violent confrontation, authorities confirmed.

The incident began just before 11 a.m. along the islet’s shore. According to SDPD Lt. Jud Campbell, the off-duty officer, who has been with SDCCD for 25 years, had been walking his dogs on the shore when he was stabbed multiple times by the man.

The off-duty officer then pulled out a gun and shot the man at least one time in the torso, Campbell said.

The 41-year-old man, whose identity has not been released at this time, suffered significant injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, while the off-duty officer was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment to multiple stab wounds he sustained. The off-duty officer’s injuries are serious, but he is expected to survive, police said.

“They were pulling, they had someone on a stretcher, and they were pulling that person or persons, off the sand,” a bystander to the incident, Saegleo Santiago, told FOX 5/KUSI.

Authorities say the off-duty officer was on the sand between the water and the road on Fiesta Island with his dogs when the man confronted him for unknown reasons.

“The male began stabbing the off-duty officer with a knife.  A knife was later located on the sand near the male. The officer pulled out a firearm and shot the male at least one time. The firearm was determined to be the officer’s personal weapon,” Lt. Daniel Meyer with SDPD said in a release.

Fiesta Island was completely closed to the public for several hours as police investigated the incident. The beach was reopened shortly before 3:30 p.m., SDPD said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

In a statement around 2:30 p.m., the San Diego Community College District confirmed the stabbing victim was an off-duty security officer, adding that their focus is his current condition.

“Our thoughts are with him and his family at this time,” the district wrote. “The District is cooperating with the San Diego Police Department on the investigation.”

Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call the Homicide Unit at 619-531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

FOX 5/KUSI’s Rhea Caoile contributed to this report.

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