Edited clips from 911 calls and body-worn camera footage of San Diego police fatally shooting a man with a knife in La Jolla over the weekend were made public by the police on Thursday.
Dejon Heard, a San Diego resident, aged 25, was named as the deceased man. According to court documents, he had a lengthy history of mental illness. In 2019, he entered a guilty plea to felony assault after using a knife to strike a man.
Susan Klat, Heard's grandmother, claimed on Friday that her grandson had experienced similar episodes on several occasions before the shooting, which happened shortly after 7 a.m. in the Bird Rock neighborhood, close to the intersection of La Jolla Boulevard and Midway.
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.”
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.
The SDPD killed Dejon Heard last week. They released an edited version of the tape this week.
— Megan (she/her) (@mwatsonnyc) July 13, 2024
This country has no interest in helping or healing people who are mentally unstable. #acab #SanDiego pic.twitter.com/h6tpuuUqLT
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