In the wake of Thursday's night shootout in which a San Diego police sergeant was shot in the head — the officer is now recovering in the hospital after surgery — a former SDPD SWAT officer offered a unique perspective on the incident.
In the moments leading up to the shootout. There were warnings on police radio.
"The [reporting party] told us the gentlemen will fight with police," a dispatcher can be heard saying, "and will not go back to jail if he approaches."
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NBC 7 asked Former SWAT officer Brandon Gibson to listen to a computer recording of Thursday's police scanner traffic.
“Ok, Sarge, the suspect is coming out the front door," the scanner recording continued.
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Gibson found the recordings unnerving.
"Goosebumps for me," Gibson told NBC 7 on Friday. "My palms are sweating. That’s difficult to listen to. “
"Shots fired. 10-4. Shots were fired," the scanner recording continued.
“Just a stolen car — for a law enforcement officer — can be the call that gets you killed," Gibson said.
Gibson didn’t work with the sergeant who was shot Thursday night, nor does he know the specific circumstances of that police shooting, but after 10 years with the police department, seven of those on the SWAT team, he knows the risk.
"There are probably a few times where I probably shouldn’t have come home, and that’s a tough reality we have to face but it’s one we accept," Gibson said.
According to investigators, the sergeant, whose name has not yet been released by SDPD, was investigating a report of a stolen car outside the 4S Commons Town Center when the gunman began shooting at him.
Police Chief David Nisleit was visibly shaken on Friday when he expressed frustration that three of his officers have been shot in the past 12 months, with several others also being shot at.
“People are more than willing to murder the men and women of law enforcement nowadays," Gibson said. "It seems like it is unprecedented to me."
Gibson said that, unlike patrol officers, the members of the SWAT team are required to attend constant refresher training on tactics and weapons, but you can never be ready for what happened Thursday in 4S Ranch.
“When you lose a friend or teammate on the job, that’s when it hits home that, 'Hey, there is no guarantee that I am going home tonight,' " Gibson said.
