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A woman who said she was the sister of a man slain by Vista sheriff's deputies on Monday is comforted by her husband near the shooting scene at Townsite Drive and Newport Drive. Authorities said the man was a suspected car thief who was fleeing police and was shot when deputies thought he was reaching for a gun.
Bill Wechter
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VISTA ---- Sheriff's deputies fatally shot a suspected car thief Monday afternoon in Vista, the third deadly shooting by law enforcement officers in the city in the past five days.

Sheriff's spokesman Capt. Glenn Revell called the string of incidents "unprecedented" in his 23 years with the department.

Monday's shooting took place during a foot chase about 4:30 p.m. in the 800 block of Newport Drive in the city's largely Latino Townsite neighborhood. Authorities said that deputies thought the suspected car thief had a gun, but later determined he was armed only with a multipurpose utility knife.

The incident is one of at least five fatal shootings in Vista this year, out of eight deputy-involved shootings in the county.

On Thursday, deputies shot and killed a man after he allegedly threw a dumbbell and charged at them despite repeated warnings, authorities said. On Friday night, a deputy fatally shot an armed robbery suspect after a Circle K holdup in the Shadowridge area.

Revell said he was certain there would be an evaluation of the preliminary circumstances in the three most recent cases and possibly reminders to deputies about their shooting-related training.

Sheriff Bill Kolender could not be reached for comment Monday. Assistant Sheriff William Gore was at the scene of Monday's shooting, but did not speak with reporters.

"The sheriff is not going to comment until he has all the details of the investigation," said Revell. "I think he doesn't want to prematurely make a comment until he knows what the circumstances are."

The incident Monday started with an investigation into an auto theft and allegedly involved three Latino men who deputies thought were violating a gang injunction granted last month in Vista, said Capt. Clay Reynard of the department's homicide division.

As deputies attempted to identify the men, one fled through back yards on Newport Drive and a chase ensued, Reynard said.

When deputies confronted the suspect, he reached toward his hip, prompting a deputy to fire a single shot that hit his upper torso, killing him at the scene, Reynard said.

After the shooting, crowds of people lined Townsite Drive near the yellow crime scene tape that cordoned off Newport Drive and Newport Terrace.

"This is very, very bad," neighborhood resident Ruiz Coamba said in Spanish. "There is not a need for the killing. There are too many."

A woman sobbing and embracing a man at the edge of the crime scene said she was the victim's sister.

"They killed my brother," she wailed loudly in Spanish through her sobs.

The man holding the woman identified himself as her husband, but asked reporters to step away.

Residents bemoaned the violence.

"These kids run around with guns and think gangs are cool, but look at this ---- look at this tragedy, look at these people," said Doug Prince, whose family lives on the street, gesturing toward the sobbing woman and her husband.

"People need to see this to understand the consequences of being involved with all this bad stuff," he said

Vista Mayor Morris Vance expressed dismay Monday over the series of shootings, but said it was too early to draw conclusions.

"The incidents are unfortunate, especially so many in such a short time," he said. "But I don't have the details, and that's all I'm going to say without additional information."

A total of five deputies have been put on administrative leave in connection with the three most recent incidents, which is standard procedure in officer-involved shootings, authorities said. Deputies will be working overtime to fill in for the missing personnel.

On Friday night, Jorge Ramirez, 26, ---- suspected in the armed holdup of the Circle K market in Shadowridge ---- was shot after he reached into his clothing for what might have been a gun, authorities said. Sheriff's homicide Lt. Tom Bennett said Ramirez didn't have a gun, but he did have a knife in his clothing.

About 24 hours earlier a man upset about his wife being gone was talking bizarrely to his roommates and allegedly grabbed one at their North Citrus Avenue home, also in the Townsite area, officials said.

Bennett said the man then threw a 10-pound dumbbell at deputies while charging them, hitting one deputy who was backing away from him. Despite verbal commands to stop, the use of pepper spray and a first shot that missed the man, he continued toward them until he was shot, the lieutenant said.

A San Diego County medical examiner's investigator said Monday that the man has not been identified.

"The circumstances (Thursday and Friday) certainly appear to be justified shootings, but that will be up to the district attorney's office" to determine, Bennett said. "It's tragic. Loss of life is always a very tragic outcome."

Other deputy involved shootings in this year occurred:

- March 7, when Jose Antonio Lopez, 24, of Oceanside crashed his car into the side of the Vista jail and ran inside the jail. He was fatally wounded when he assaulted a lieutenant and a sergeant, authorities said.

- March 15, Roman Torres, 24, was fatally shot after he allegedly threatened to kill a Vista neighbor and fired two gunshots.

The outcome of investigations and reviews of those shootings have not been made public.

In Shadowridge on Monday, residents said that they found the incident in their neighborhood and its subsequent law enforcement activity unsettling.

"The helicopters were circling for four or five hours, and we didn't know what was going on until we saw it on the news," said Barbara Peikin, who lives near where Ramirez was shot. "I was quite surprised, this is a nice, quiet neighborhood. They blocked off the street and our dogs were going crazy with all the activity."

Business owners in the retail plaza on Shadowridge Drive adjoining the Circle K said they had always regarded the area as safe, but planned on taking additional precautions.

"We just took ownership today, and we bought this store because Shadowridge is a nice area," said Saad Soro, new owner of Orlando's Liquor and Deli, which was having a security system installed Monday. "This will make me a little more careful."

City organizations said they were unaware of any organized response to the shooting so far.

"A few year ago, in October of 2003, there was a shooting in the Townsite area, and my phones were ringing instantly with that one," said Catherine Manis, director of Vista's Townsite Community Partnership.

She said so far she hasn't heard of any response at all to the shootings.

Contact staff writers Stacy Brandt at (760) 761-4414 or sbrandt@nctimes.com; Jo Moreland at (760) 740-3524 or jmoreland@nctimes.com, and Anne Riley-Katz at (760) 731-5799 or ariley-katz@nctimes.com.