The San Diego police officer who fatally shot a 16-year-old boy near Sante Fe Depot this week was identified Friday as a two-year veteran of the department.
Officer Daniel Gold fatally shot the teen while investigating gunshots heard near the Metropolitan Transit System trolley station on Tuesday night, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident under a county policy that restricts law enforcement agencies from investigating their own shootings and in-custody deaths.
The Sheriff’s Office is withholding the identity of the 16-year-old. Homicide Lt. Mike Krugh said in a statement to the Union-Tribune that “it is standard practice of the Sheriff’s Office not to release names of juveniles.”
According to sheriff’s investigators, officers had been investigating a battery on Broadway near Kettner Boulevard around 8:45 p.m. when a few minutes later they heard gunshots near the depot and went to investigate.
Gold “encountered” the teen near the depot and the shooting occurred “during the encounter,” Krugh said.
The Sheriff’s Office said no other details regarding the shooting were available Friday.
The teen died at a hospital.
A handgun was recovered from the “male at the scene,” authorities said.
Tuesday’s incident was the second fatal San Diego police shooting in 15 days.
On Jan. 13, officers shot and killed a 26-year-old reportedly suicidal man who advanced on officers while holding a knife.
The incidents match the total number of fatal police shootings in all of 2024. The department also had one non-fatal shooting last year.
The Sheriff’s Office is also investigating an in-custody death involving San Diego police that occurred on Jan. 25.
In 2024, the department reported no in-custody deaths.
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