A suspect in an auto-theft case was shot by a sheriff's deputy after allegedly driving a stolen pickup truck towards law enforcement personnel in a neighborhood near El Cajon. Brenten Kinzenbaw, who is 25 years old, sustained gunshot wounds to both of his legs during the incident on Oro Street in the unincorporated Bostonia area. The San Diego Police Department is responsible for investigating the use of lethal force by personnel with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.
The events leading up to the shooting began when a deputy spotted the stolen Toyota truck parked in the neighborhood just north of the intersection of Interstate 8 and North Second Street. The deputy radioed for backup, and more personnel arrived to assist. The deputies set up surveillance on the pickup, which had been stolen earlier that day during a commercial burglary in Alpine. After approximately 90 minutes, the deputies attempted to recover the truck.
As they approached the truck on foot, the personnel saw a man standing next to its passenger side and another person, later identified as Kinzenbaw, inside it, behind the wheel. When the deputies ordered Kinzenbaw to get out of the pickup, he refused. After ignoring repeated commands to exit the vehicle, Kinzenbaw allegedly put its transmission in reverse and hit the gas, sending the truck crashing into a parked vehicle. He then accelerated forward rapidly, almost hitting the deputies and a pedestrian, before crashing the pickup into a patrol vehicle.
One of the deputies then opened fire on the truck. Kinzenbaw, despite being wounded, fled the scene and prompted a brief road chase that ended when the pursuing deputies lost sight of the truck. A short time later, Kinzenbaw got into a solo accident near the intersection of Greenfield Drive and North Second Street, a few blocks northeast of the site of the shooting.
Shortly after the crash, a concerned citizen in the 1300 block of Arlington Place called the police to report hearing a person in her backyard, possibly hiding in a shed. Deputies set up a perimeter in the yard and began calling the suspect out of the shed. Kinzenbaw soon emerged from the outbuilding and surrendered without further resistance. Paramedics took him to a hospital, where he was admitted for treatment of apparently non-life-threatening injuries. No one else was hurt during the incident.
Kinzenbaw, a resident of Alpine, was arrested on suspicion of auto theft, evading police, hit-and-run, and assault with a deadly weapon. The deputy who shot the suspect has been employed by the Sheriff's Department for about five years, and his identity was not released.
