The sound of what was believed to be gunshots woke some residents of an East Village high rise at 5 a.m. Monday morning, but that wasn't the only wild thing to happen overnight.
Eric Kandell was having tea on his balcony at the Pinnacle on Park apartment complex at around midnight when he was startled by something soaring through the sky.
"I took cover. I thought the world was ending," he said.
What Kandell saw was the first of three base jumpers leaping from the skyscraper at 424 15th Street, near J Street.
As the jumper floats toward the street hanging from his wide, white parachute, people in the background of a cell phone video obtained by NBC 7 can be heard applauding and cheering.
Another exclaims, "He scared the s--- out of me."
This isn't the first instance of base jumping from high rises in San Diego, but Kandell thinks these particular jumpers may have been stir crazy from the coronavirus stay-at-home order
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"I believe it is like retaliation, like they are bored, like something has got to happen," Kandell said.
Monday morning at the Pinnacle got even more crazy for residents some five hours later when reports of several gunshots drew heavy police activity to the building.
Police never found a weapon or any evidence of gunfire, but they did detain 10 people associated with a party on the 42nd floor where at least three people were injured.
SDPD Lt. Shawn Takeuchi told NBC 7 police are trying to determine who hosted the party and why it was happening. The county remains under a public health order that prohibits social gatherings in ongoing efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
