UPDATE NO. 4, DEC. 18, 12:51 P.M.: The 48-year-old man fatally shot by a Costa Mesa police officer Tuesday night has been identified as Julius L. Pinson of Costa Mesa, according to a statement that indicates the deceased had felony arrest warrants out of Texas and New Mexico.
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The warrants from New Mexico involved two different cases in 2011: sexual penetration of a minor and embezzlement, according to Costa Mesa Police Lt. Paul Dondero.
Pinson was wanted for a different embezzlement in Texas as well as aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the Lone Star State, according to Dondero, who added no additional information is being released as the joint police and district attorney's office investigation into the police shooting continues.
UPDATE NO. 3, DEC. 17, 11:48 A.M.: A 48-year-old man who was being served a warrant by two Costa Mesa police officers “became violently combative and brandished a handgun” before he exchanged gunfire with one of the cops and later died from a gunshot wound, according to Lt. Bryan Glass.
Both officers suffered minor injuries and were treated by medical staff after the 10:40 p.m. physical altercation and shooting that had shots fired by both the suspect, whose name has not yet been released, and one unidentified officer, Glass said. Paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene from the gunshot wound.
The Costa Mesa Police Department and the Orange County District Attorney's office are conducting a joint investigation into the shooting. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Bang Le at 714.754.5361.
UPDATE NO. 2, DEC. 17, 11:17 A.M.: According to a witness who lives near the shooting scene, “there were at least two shots that were not in direct succession. The second shot occurred roughly a minute after the first shot. I also heard a lady screaming violently as soon as the second shot happened, but not after the first shot.”
The witness did not see anything from a nearby apartment but only overheard the gunshots and screaming.
UPDATE NO. 1, DEC. 17, 9:54 A.M.: Costa Mesa Police Lt. Bryan Glass this morning gave a different time and location for last night's officer-involved shooting: 10:30 p.m. in the 3000 block of Jeffrey Drive. He declined to provide more details.
The Orange County coroner's office, which only identifies the deceased as a male, states the incident happened at 10:44 a.m. Tuesday in the front yard at 3029 Jeffrey Drive, Apt. A, Costa Mesa.
ORIGINAL POST, DEC. 17, 8:46 A.M.: Details are sketchy, but there was a fatal officer involved shooting around 11 p.m. Tuesday in the 800 block of Paularino Drive in Costa Mesa.
A videographer at the scene told City News Service this morning that a body was lying in front of the Woodland Village Apartments.
The Costa Mesa Police Department has yet to release any additional information.
Stay tuned.
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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.