Man Shot Eight Times as SWAT Team Forces End to Suicide Threat

A man who threatened suicide inside a Mira Mesa discount store was in critical condition Wednesday with eight gunshot wounds after a police SWAT team member shot him with a 9-millimeter automatic rifle.

Lynn Morra, a spokeswoman for Scripps Memorial Hospital, said Benedict Perrin, 23, was expected to recover despite the multiple wounds. Morra said Perrin, who has a history of failed suicide attempts, was shot in the abdomen and suffered a broken right arm and left leg.

Perrin was shot Tuesday night after the SWAT team sent a police dog into the K mart store on Mira Mesa Boulevard to subdue him. Perrin shot the dog, and officers then moved in.

Decision Questioned

On Wednesday, police Lt. David Spisak said questions were being raised about the decision to use force to end Perrin’s suicide threat. Spisak said police decided “to go tactical” partly because of information about Perrin’s psychiatric history provided by his father, William.

While at the scene Tuesday, Spisak, head of the negotiating team, told reporters that Perrin’s father had informed police his son was a methamphetamine user.

“I had information furnished by his father that led me to believe that he was fully capable of carrying out his threat to kill himself. I was convinced that was a possibility,” he said.

But Spisak also acknowledged that police “were under no time crunch” in negotiating with Perrin. The gunman did not have hostages and was talking to police throughout most of the standoff.

“In a suicide case, we have a fellow that is by himself. We had him isolated. We were prepared to sit him out. He’s gonna get tired and go to sleep sometime,” Spisak said.

Asked about the decision to use force, he said: “The answer is that for someone who’s threatening suicide and at that point is about to do it . . . you got to take your best shot, and it worked. The victim was not successful and we didn’t kill him. That’s a win for us.

‘Moral Dilemma We Face’

“The moral dilemma that we face in a situation like that is if we let him kill himself, then people are gonna ask, ‘Why didn’t you do anything?’ If we had not intervened, he would have committed suicide,” Spisak said.

Police said Perrin entered the K mart store at 1:40 p.m. Tuesday and asked to see a .22-caliber rifle. According to police, Perrin then pulled a bullet from his pocket, put it in the gun’s chamber and threatened to kill himself. The store was quickly evacuated and police were summoned. Meanwhile, Perrin moved to the television department, where he produced additional ammunition.

The ensuing standoff lasted more than nine hours as a police negotiating team attempted to persuade Perrin to give up the rifle. About 4 p.m., the gunman fired two shots into the ceiling, but no one was injured and police did not fire their weapons.

Spisak said Perrin entered “a highly emotional stage” about 11 p.m. and a decision was made to send a police dog into the store to subdue him.

“In my opinion, he was in a highly emotional stage . . . one of the last characteristics that someone who is getting ready to commit suicide shows when he is ready to do it,” Spisak said.

Police said Perrin fired one shot at the police dog, wounding the animal in the upper neck. The dog, a four-year veteran named Zirk, was hospitalized Wednesday but is expected to recover and return to duty.

Negotiations Stopped

Spisak said the SWAT team rushed Perrin after he shot the dog and that one officer fired an automatic rifle at Perrin when Perrin allegedly pointed his rifle at another officer.

Perrin had negotiated with police until about 90 minutes before the SWAT team went in, Spisak said. At one point Perrin agreed to exchange a box of ammunition with police for a pack of cigarettes.

“Negotiation stops when one side is unwilling to make further concessions,” Spisak said. “Negotiations had stopped about an hour and a half before we made the contact. He was not moving on any points that we were offering.”

He said Perrin consistently threatened to kill himself and told police, “I’m going to kill myself or you’re going to kill me.”

When Perrin became unwilling to negotiate, police began concentrating on subduing him and lessening the possibility of injury to the officers, Spisak said.

“Our goal was not to get any officers injured and getting him out with less than a fatal wound,” Spisak said.

Refused Talk With Father

Police also said Perrin asked to speak with his father and girlfriend during the standoff. The girlfriend was never found, but police refused to allow him to talk with his father or other relatives.

“We wouldn’t let him. There’s a body of literature and experience built up over the years on the do’s and don’ts of negotiating,” Spisak said. “One of the don’ts, especially with suicides, is not to allow close friends or family members to enter into the negotiations. . . . We don’t give them an audience. We use their desire to talk (to family members or friends) as part of the negotiating process.”

A police report says Perrin was despondent over breaking up with his girlfriend and had threatened suicide earlier Tuesday. He had been the object of an early-morning police search after police received word he was suicidal. A police source who asked not to be identified told The Times that Perrin had attempted suicide on four previous occasions. Two of those occurred after failed relationships, the source said.

On Wednesday, it was also learned that Perrin’s older brother committed suicide in 1986. Christian F. Perrin was also 23 when he drove a Volkswagen off a La Jolla cliff and shot himself in the head as the car plunged 300 feet into a ravine. Christian Perrin also was distraught over a breakup with a girlfriend.