A 21-year-old man was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries Thursday after he was shot by a California Highway Patrol officer when he refused to put down his weapon, a law enforcement spokesman said.
The officer-involved shooting occurred in Sacramento's south area near Fruitridge Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard shortly before noon. The injured man was shot once in the upper body, according to Deputy Jason Ramos, Sacramento County Sheriff's Department spokesman.
The shooting at 23rd Avenue and Del Norte Boulevard occurred about 11:45 a.m. A CHP officer on patrol westbound on 23rd Avenue noticed a man with a handgun walking on the sidewalk on the north side of the street in a residential neighborhood.
The officer made a U-turn, got out of his vehicle and ordered the man to put down the gun. The man refused and led the officer on a brief foot pursuit, Ramos said.
While calling for backup on his portable radio, the officer observed the man attempting to charge the weapon. Believing that the man had chambered a round and prepared his weapon to fire, and based on the man's repeated refusal to drop the gun, the officer believed he was in imminent danger, Ramos said.
The officer fired his duty weapon several times, and the man was struck once in the upper body, Ramos said. He fell down in the yard of a home at 23rd Avenue and Del Norte Boulevard.
The man was taken by ambulance to the UC Davis Medical Center.
Ramos said the man's name is not being released because it has not been determined whether he will face criminal charges.
Sheriff's homicide detectives are investigating the incident, which is standard practice for any officer-involved shooting that occurs in the Sheriff's Department's jurisdiction, Ramos said.
The CHP officer will be placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Officials said he is 38 years old and has been with the CHP for six years.
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