San Diego police on Thursday released edited portions of 911 calls and body-worn camera footage showing an officer fatally shooting a man with a knife in La Jolla last weekend.
The man killed was identified as 25-year-old Dejon Heard of San Diego. Court records indicate he had a long history of mental illness and pleaded guilty to felony assault in 2019 for attacking a man with a knife.
Heard’s grandmother, Susan Klat, said Friday that he had, on multiple occasions, suffered episodes like what she saw on video leading up to the shooting, which took place just after 7 a.m. near the intersection of La Jolla Boulevard and Midway in the Bird Rock neighborhood.
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SDPD released clips of two 911 calls, the first of a man Klat said she believed was Heard himself, calling police in distress.
“Right here, right now,” the man can be heard saying to the dispatcher before the call disconnects.
The second 911 call released was a woman saying, in part, “He’s blocking traffic. He’s standing outside the car with a knife and yelling.”
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Witnesses said Heard had parked his car in the street and was behaving erratically.
Portions of the body-camera footage released by SDPD Friday show the two responding officers drawing their weapons as soon as they arrived at the scene. Both tell Heard multiple times to drop the knife.
One officer fired three shots, striking Heard. Heard was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.
San Diego County Court records show that in 2019, Heard pleaded guilty to one count of felony assault with a deadly weapon. In his court file, a 2021 letter from a therapist said Heard “maintains a diagnosis of… Paranoid Schizophrenia.”
Klat said Heard was loving and generous but struggled with his mental health for years. That 2019 case and multiple deaths in his family made him feel as though he had lost everything, she said.
Heard was attending school in Arizona before moving back to San Diego in January, choosing to live in his car since then, Klat said.
Klat said she has questions about the shooting and wants the full body-worn camera footage, as well as the complete 911 calls, released to help her piece together what happened before her grandson was killed. She said she’s paid for a second autopsy as she continues to search for answers.
As is protocol with all shootings by San Diego police, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the incident, which will be reviewed by the District Attorney’s office and several other agencies to evaluate the officers’ actions.
