October 7, 2020 – Ventura County, Ca.
If one wants to attract the attention of law enforcement, there may be no better way than to call the local sheriff’s department and tell whoever picks up the phone that you’re in possession of a loaded gun and have imminent plans to shoot anyone you see.
That’s exactly the tenor of the call the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Camarillo Station received just after midnight on October 4th from 24-year-old Camarillo resident Austin Manzano.
According to VCSD spokesman Capt. Eric Buschow, Manzano called Camarillo’s 911 Emergency Dispatch Center and told them he was at the intersection of Bradford Avenue and West Ponderosa Drive and that “he was armed and would begin shooting people” unless cops responded. The dispatcher reportedly kept Manzano on the phone in an attempt to deescalate things, but he “said he was suicidal and wanted to provoke an officer-involved shooting.”
It didn’t take Deputies Robert Medina and Greg Tougas long to arrive on the scene, at which point they spotted Manzano “holding a large knife in his left hand” and what appeared to be a handgun in his right hand. They immediately gave verbal commands to Manzano, ordering him “to drop the weapons.”
Manzano was “very descriptive and specific” as he refused the comply to the commands of the uniformed deputies, and “approached the two deputies in a threatening manner.” At that point, Manzano’s declared objective to be shot by the cops was achieved; the deputies shot Manzano and quickly subdued him.
Paramedics responded and transported Manzano to a local hospital, where he remains in critical condition, facing multiple felony charges in spite of the fact that the firearm he brandished toward the deputies was determined to be a replica handgun.
Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Sheriff’s Department
