San Diego police are continuing their investigation into the Nov. 4 officer-involved shooting of a wanted man believed to be armed who attempted to hide outside a Pacific Beach apartment complex. On Nov. 4 at 2:58 p.m., police officers on patrol in the 1700 block of Garnet Avenue recognized a 47-year-old white male suspect wanted for several felony warrants out of Missouri. The suspect, Timothy Gene Smith, was considered armed and dangerous. Officers attempted to contact Smith, but he immediately ran southbound through an apartment complex. Officers pursued the suspect on foot for approximately two blocks but momentarily lost sight of him. San Diego Police Air Support arrived and located the suspect hiding in a shed between two apartment buildings in an alley that connects Jewell and Ingraham streets between Grand and Thomas avenues, near a KFC restaurant and several residential buildings. More officers and a K-9 unit arrived and set up a perimeter around the shed. As an officer gave several verbal commands to surrender, the suspect suddenly ran from the shed and attempted to jump over an adjoining fence. The police dog was deployed and bit the suspect on the foot before the suspect broke free and jumped the fence. Smith then climbed onto a ledge on the neighboring apartment building and turned toward Sgt. Scott Holslag while reaching into his pockets, police said. Holslag gave several more verbal commands to show his hands, but Smith refused to comply and continued to reach into his pockets, appearing to retrieve something, according to police. Holslag believed the suspect was retrieving a weapon and feared for his safety and the safety of the public. Holslag discharged his handgun, striking the suspect in the torso. Additional officers attempted life-saving measures, but the suspect succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. The shooting victim was identified as Missouri resident Smith, who was wanted on felony warrants. Holslag, a 19-year San Diego Police Department veteran, fatally shot Smith in the 1600 block of Thomas Avenue, said San Diego police Lt. Paul Rorrison. Police have body-camera video of the officer-involved shooting incident, and that will be reviewed, homicide Capt. David Nisleit said. Later that day, shortly after 7 p.m., Janie Sanders, 32, who claimed to be the wife of the shooting victim and was wanted on a warrant for drug possession after failing to appear in court, was arrested after barricading herself into and refusing to come out of an apartment in the 3900 block of Ingraham Street. After talking to police negotiators on the phone, the woman was taken into custody without incident about 9:40 p.m., police said. Residents in adjacent apartments who had been evacuated were then allowed back inside. “Officers killed my husband today, unarmed,” Sanders said as she surrendered and was cuffed and placed in a squad car less than half a mile from the location where Smith was shot a few hours prior.
Sanders has since been extradited back to Missouri to face several charges, including her original drug possession charge.
