San Diego police released footage Thursday that shows a chase and standoff with a man wanted for several altercations with police that ultimately ended with officers shooting the man at San Diego High School. Before that, bounty hunters tried to arrest the man at a home in Chula Vista when he allegedly shot at the bounty hunters in front of the home, hitting one of them.
“There is the psychology of fight or flight. This would be the first person I ever encountered that wanted to fight,” said Jesse Nuñez, owner of the company Fugitive Warrants.
Christopher Marquez, 36, shot twice at one of Nuñez’s private investigators, Jeremy Clark, who tried to arrest him at a home on the 600 block of East J Street in Chula Vista in March.
“It’s just extremely painful. It is a very numbing pain, and it burns a lot,” Clark said of the shooting.
Clark says Marquez shot him in the arm and leg before Clark could draw his weapon. Then the agent made a desperate crawl for cover, which likely saved his life.
“Still dealing with a lot of pain. Struggling with movement,” Clark said.
NBC 7 asked Nuñez what makes a person flee, despite the potential deadly consequences?
Nuñez said, it’s often one of two things.
“Most of it is the fear of incarceration or the desire to live life to fullest until it is no longer their choice,” he said.
But Nuñez says Marquez was a fugitive unlike most others because of his willingness to confront law enforcement.
So, when it came down to an 11-hour standoff in early April, Marquez in a San Diego High School dumpster while surrounded by police and SWAT members– the outcome was no surprise to the fugitive team.
“There is no doubt in my mind he wanted to kill a law enforcement officer there is not a doubt in my mind,” Nuñez said.
The pursuit ended at San Diego High School where Marquez and Janeth Iriarte, 33, a woman who had been on the run with him and who appeared to be in a hostage situation at the time, police said.
SDPD said SWAT officers had approached the dumpster as the woman was trying to get out. They could hear the pair talking in there.
San Diego police released footage Thursday that shows a chase and standoff with a man wanted for several altercations with police that ultimately ended with officers shooting the man at San Diego High School.
The SDPD said Marquez allegedly pushed the woman “into a position where they believed he was going to shoot her.”
As the SWAT officers saw Marquez allegedly moving a rifle towards the woman, two SWAT officers fired their service weapons at Marquez, hitting and killing him.
The woman was taken out of the dumpster and was not harmed, police said.
SDPD said the woman involved in the pursuit and standoff is not being identified at this time. It is unknown if she will face charges.
Clark said it could take six more months to recover from his leg wound, but he hasn’t yet decided whether to return to his fugitive recovery team.
The deadly shooting of Marquez remains under investigation by SDPD’s Homicide Unit. Once they conclude their investigation, it will be under review by the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office to determine if the officers who fired their weapons should face any criminal liability. SDPD said the newly formed Commission on Police Practices will also review the incident.