ANTIOCH — The four police officers who shot and wounded a homicide suspect earlier this month included a new officer who had been sworn in just four days earlier.
Police said the Antioch police officers who shot guns in the Oct. 1 incident were Thomas Borg, Dustin Dibble, Shawn Marques, and Kyle Armstrong. In a statement, Antioch police also identified the suspect as 30-year-old Daniel Mackin, of Antioch.
Armstrong had been sworn in just four days earlier after completing a training academy in Alameda County. He was one of six new hires all sworn in on the same day, as the city continues its efforts to replace those who have been charged with felonies in a massive corruption scandal implicating Antioch and Pittsburg’s police forces.
Mackin was wanted on a Ramey murder warrant, meaning that police intended to question him in connection with a homicide. Any hope of obtaining a statement from Mackin seems to have vanished now; he sustained multiple gunshot injuries and was hospitalized, but survived.
Police arrested him on suspicion of homicide and robbery; assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer; being a felon in possession of a gun; receiving a stolen vehicle; and resisting arrest. He has not been charged in connection with the homicide, and neither police nor county prosecutors have divulged which homicide it was.
According to police, it all started when an Antioch community service officer spotted two vehicles about 7:40 a.m. in the 200 block of West 3rd Street that were in a carport. Both of the vehicles were suspected of being used in a burglary and one was determined to be stolen, police said.
Officers Dibble and Marques were the first officers at the scene, according to police. Marques peered into one of the vehicles, a van, and noticed Mackin asleep with a gun by his hands, they said.
Dibble and Marques requested more assistance, according to police, and Mackin awoke as other officers were arriving. Police said Mackin did not comply with police orders and instead drove the van at them in an attempt to flee the carport.
According to police, the vehicle became disabled. Despite officers’ commands, police said Mackin ran out of the passenger’s side door with a gun in his hand.
Police said Officers Borg, Dibble, Marques and Armstrong followed Mackin south on the A Street extension from West 3rd Street and that Mackin turned and pointed the gun in their direction. At that point, all four officers fired their guns, police said.
The officers were placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting, per department policy. Authorities did not say immediately whether the officers had returned to work since the shooting.
The city is already dealing with a large-scale investigation into officers’ racist, homophobic, and sexist text messages, which has as much as 40 percent of the force on paid administration leave. Then there’s the recent slew of indictments issued in August, aimed at 14 current and former Pittsburg and Antioch employees.
Source: www.mercurynews.com