See the update at the end of this post where the sheriff's department, which is investigating the officer-involved shooting, says the dead man pointed and fired a gun at the cop who killed him.
ORIGINAL POST, AUG. 5, 10:28 A.M.: Another weekend, another suspect fatally shot by an officer with an Orange County law enforcement agency.
Saturday morning it was the late Eric Marquez, 26, of Orange, who was shot and killed after he and another man ran away from a vehicle stopped by Huntington Beach Police.
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For reasons not yet disclosed, a uniformed Huntington Beach officer confronted the men in the residential area of Glencoe Avenue and Silver Lane around 7:45 a.m. Sunday, when both got out of the vehicle and ran.
The cop, described only as a nine-year veteran of the force, chased one man, which led to a confrontation and Marquez being shot, according to an HB Police statement. The officer was not injured and a handgun was found at the scene, police added.
Meanwhile, the second guy got away. He was described as Latino, 6 feet tall, 200 pounds and in his early 20s. He had a shaved head and was last seen dressed all in black. He disappeared running north on Sher Lane.
Anyone who saw the officer-involved shooting or knows the escapee's whereabouts is asked to call Orange County sheriff's homicide detectives at 714.647.7000.
UPDATE, AUG. 7, 7 A.M.: Perhaps attempting to stave off the kind of citizen protests that have accompanied other recent fatal shootings by Orange County law enforcement, the sheriff's department issued a press release pointing out that “evidence and witness statements” indicate Eric Marquez fired a gun at the Huntington Beach police officer who shot him to death.
The gun Marquez carried was recovered at the scene, add deputies, who are investigating Saturday's shooting.
Investigators have not determined the motives for Marquez's actions leading up to the shooting, according to the preliminary investigation. The second man who fled the vehicle with Marquez might be able to shed more light on that. He's still being sought and is described as Hispanic, in his early 20s, 5-foot-10, 200 pounds with facial hair and a shaved head.
Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's department's Homicide Unit at 714.647.7046.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.