Source The San Diego Union-Tribune
The Carlsbad police officer who opened fire after being hit in his head with a skateboard in what police officials characterized as an ambush attack last week was identified on Thursday.
Officer Michael McKinney, who was treated at a hospital for serious injuries, has been with the Carlsbad department since 2022, but has eight years of law enforcement experience, police said. He currently works as a patrol officer.
McKinney shot at but did not hit Kyle McCord, who is accused of assaulting McKinney "without warning or provocation" the night of March 29, San Diego police officials said. The San Diego department is investigating under a countywide protocol that prevents departments from investigating their own police shootings.
The incident began about 11:15 p.m. McKinney was driving a patrol car on Carlsbad Village Drive, headed under Interstate 5, when a rock struck the vehicle, destroying its spotlight and damaging the windshield, San Diego police Lt. Steve Shebloski said.
McKinney called for a supervisor and pulled into a nearby shopping center. As the officer and his sergeant inspected the damage, someone ran up behind McKinney and hit him with the skateboard, Shebloski said.
The assailant ran off. The injured officer grabbed his gun and, as he sought cover at a nearby business, opened fire as the man ran across the parking lot. McKinney fired three shots. No one was struck.
The sergeant ran after the attacker. Additional officers responded and a man, later identified as McCord, was arrested about three blocks away. The 32-year-old was booked into jail on suspicion of attempting to murder a police office and committing a felony while on bond or bail.
Shebloski said detectives are trying to figure out whether the incident that led McKinney to pull over — a rock hitting the patrol vehicle — was an accident or an "intentional act carried out by the suspect or another person."
Anyone with information regarding the shooting was asked to call the San Diego Police Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at (888) 580-8477.
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