Bodycam video shows deputies open fire on armed suspect in El Cajon

New bodycam video released Wednesday shows the moments San Diego County sheriff’s deputies opened fire on an armed stolen trailer suspect last week on an East County street.

The nearly 10-minute video captures a portion of the confrontation between two deputies and 31-year-old Erik Talavera that took place Feb. 16 in the 1100 block of Decker Street in El Cajon. According to El Cajon police investigators, sheriff’s deputies David Lovejoy and Jonathon Young shot Talavera during a traffic stop when he exited a van that was hauling the trailer armed with a knife and then ignored their commands.

Talavera was transported to an area hospital to undergo surgery for gunshot wounds, police said. Talavera was listed in stable condition the day after the shooting and he remains hospitalized.

Lovejoy, an eight-year department veteran, and Young, a six-year vet, were placed on administrative assignment until they are cleared to return to duty, police said Wednesday. Neither was injured in the altercation, but a National City police detective on the Regional Auto Theft Task Force was treated for a so-called “minor, non-life-threatening gunshot wound.”

The shooting remains under investigation.

The edited video — which was reviewed prior to release by El Cajon police — shows body-worn camera video captured by Lovejoy and Young and drone footage of the scene.

Video shared by the department picks up about 10:19 p.m. from Young’s body-worn camera. He was noted by the sheriff’s department as the second deputy to arrive on the scene.

Young can be seen exiting his vehicle and walking toward Lovejoy, who already can be heard in a confrontation with Talavera. Young approaches the scene on the right side of Lovejoy’s vehicle and shouts, “Get on the ground,” followed by Lovejoy who can be heard shouting, “Do not move.”

Talavera appears to keep moving, at which point the deputies both start firing at him.

Once on the ground, Talavera lets out a scream but then the department says he “lurch(ed) towards the object on the ground,” leading a deputy to fire two more shots in his direction. This portion of the incident also is captured on the video from Lovejoy’s camera.

“Stop!” Young said, calling out to Talavera. “Let me see your hands.”

Young can be heard asking if the object on the ground was a gun. He continues to shout at Talavera to “put your arms out” and he then notes that the object is a knife.

Later, deputies and a department K-9 are seen approaching Talavera. They put handcuffs on him and then roll him over onto his side and then onto his back.

“Where’s the gun?” one deputy can be heard asking Talavera.

“I don’t have one, I swear to God … I don’t got nothing,” Talavera responds.

Much of the rest of Young’s video shows crews administering first aid to Talavera. He is heard breathing hard throughout and groaning in agony as deputies repeatedly urge him to keep talking and to “stay with us.”

“M———–, you can’t see I only had a gun — or, I mean, I didn’t have no gun?” Talavera asks at one point. “I had a f—— knife.”

The knife later was recovered at the scene by authorities.

Along with the investigation by El Cajon police, the sheriff’s department said the District Attorney’s Special Operations Division responded and will review the case presented to them by police.
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