Buena Park police officers were sent to an apartment at 6941 Faculty Circle just before 3:30 p.m. Wednesday to check on a man a family member from out of state had not heard from in weeks.
But cops found no sign that anyone was there or that anything suspicious had happened that would justify making entry. Another welfare check call came, so this time officers convinced the apartment manager to let them into the unit.
That's when the gunshot rang out.
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Officers quickly exited the apartment, not sure what had happened and not wanting to take any chances until more officers and gear arrived at the scene, according to Buena Park Police spokesman Cpl. Andy Luong, who notes all surrounding apartment units were quickly evacuated.
Supervising officers discovered several firearms, including a large rifle, were registered to the man in his 50s who lived in the unit, said Luong, adding decisions were made to activate the SWAT team and treat the encounter as they would with a barricaded person.
After several attempts to contact someone inside failed, SWAT officers bolted inside and discovered the body of a man in his early 50s in the bedroom, said Luong. Suffering a single gunshot wound to the head, the man had been alone in the apartment, the spokesman said.
The investigation continues, and the man will be identified once next-of-kin are notified.
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.