Update 3: Gunman Slain by Police Muttered: ‘I’m Going to Die Right Here’

Updated at 11:15 p.m. Saturday.

Carrying a shotgun and muttering about “f---ing women,” Andrew Joseph Yacko of La Mesa died in a hail of police gunfire late Friday night on a quiet street north of The Village and 90 yards from the historic Rev. McKinney House.

Joe Himmelberg said he was having dinner with his girlfriend, Trudy, on his front porch on Pine Street when Yacko, 35, was felled in the middle of the street, his head coming to rest on a sewer manhole cover.

He’d been ranting about his estranged wife, possibly named Ann, the mother of two small children named Julie and Josh, before he was gunned down, he said.

“It certainly wasn’t the officers’ fault,” Himmelberg said a little before noon Saturday, recounting a harrowing scene on Pine Street at Pine Court that unfolded before him about 11:25 p.m. Friday.

“Hey, man, put that [gun] away," Himmelberg said he told Yacko from his front yard. “Relax. If you put down the gun, you can have a drink with me.”

But Yacko continued swearing, saying: “She wouldn't let me see the kids. She’s all f---ed up,” Himmelberg said after a long morning that included an hourlong interview at the police station only a quarter-mile west.

“He flat out said: ‘I’m going to die right here, right now,’ ” Himmelberg said, petting his golden retriever Maximus. 

A neighbor up the street, who didn’t want to be named, said the victim was warned to drop his weapon. But when shooting began, there were “a lot of bullets, man, a lot of bullets.”

Several officers approached the fatally wounded man, kicked his weapon away, turned his body over and handcuffed him, the neighbor said.

Bullets flew right by his house on the east side of Pine Street north of Allison Avenue.

“We missed those bullets by a couple of feet,” he said but noted a neighbor’s door with two bullet holes.

About 100 yards from the shooting, the southeast corner of an apartment complex at Pine Street and University Avenue—across from the home of the La Mesa Historical Society—was hit by at least two rounds. No damage was noted at the Rev. McKinney House.

La Mesa police Lt. Dan Willis said six officers and a sergeant were on the scene late Friday night. He didn’t know how many officers fired or who shot Yacko, saying an ongoing investigation involves the District Attorney’s Office and police internal affairs.

Officers with rifles and Glock handguns opened fire when Yacko racked his shotgun and pointed it toward police south of him on Pine Street, Willis said.

Rounds hit about a half-dozen homes, including one with two small children occupied by Logan and Jennilee Calkins. Nobody was hurt, and officers did a sweep of the neighborhood to account for rounds and make sure the residents were safe, said Logan Calkins, 27.

Several cars and trucks bore bullet holes, including a windshield-hit mid-2000s Ford Ranger pickup owned by eight-year resident Bill Williams.

La Mesa Today reported that family members identified the victim as Andrew Joseph Yacko, a journeyman electrician who worked until May 1 at the San Onofre nuclear power station.

“I don't blame the police; they did what they had to do,” the website quoted Yacko’s brother Michael Yacko Jr. as saying. “He was a good kid. He just made a mistake.”

Detectives were on scene in the 4800 block of Pine Street throughout the morning, including commanders and Police Chief Al Lanning, said Willis, who conducted a press conference before noon after being up all night.

Pine Street between University Avenue and Allison Avenue was closed until 8:30 a.m. Saturday, according to a report on The San Diego Union-Tribune website, with yellow police tape holding back an early morning crowd.

Willis said that around 11:18 p.m. police began receiving 911 calls reporting a domestic dispute, a woman screaming and a man armed with a rifle.

One caller said the woman involved in the domestic dispute fled to a neighbor’s home and the man pointed the gun at the door of the home, according to police.

La Mesa police staged at Pine Street and Allison Avenue, and officers with pistols and rifles drawn began walking toward Pine Court after receiving a report that the armed man was on Pine Court walking toward Pine Street.

Police called for paramedics and began first aid on the suspect, but he died at the scene—the 4800 block of Pine Street.

The man had been living with his estranged wife for several weeks before the violent argument spilled into the street, prompting several calls to 911 after the woman screamed, Willis said.

The woman had been slapped, and had a reddened face, but didn’t seek medical attention, Willis said. Children were at home but may have been moved to a neighbor’s house during the incident, he said.

Online court records (attached) indicate Yacko was sued for divorce in September 2008 by a Julie Yacko, under “legal separation with UCCA,” a reference to the Uniform Child Custody Act.

Willis said that he “didn’t want to guess” how far away the officers were from the victim when they opened fire, but that detectives took measurements Saturday morning for a report that could take several weeks to become public.

The officers involved in the shooting were going on a regular four-day break, but would return to work after being evaluated.

If the investigation bears out early reports of officers acting in self-defense against the threat of deadly force, “then it would be a justifiable shooting,” Willis said. “When your life is threatened, it’s a very traumatic thing.”

Willis said it was the first officer-involved shooting in La Mesa since about 2006-07, but nobody died in that incident. The last time a La Mesa officer used deadly force was in 2002, when a gunbattle ensued after a suspect being chased by another police agency drove into La Mesa and hit a police cruiser.

Police closed the streets after the incident Friday night and by dawn, Yacko's mother, Sally, and brother, Michael, stood at Pine and Allison watching officers move the body.

“He was drinking,” La Mesa Today quoted Michael Yacko as saying Saturday morning. “He made a mistake, a big mistake.”

Himmelberg, who witnessed the shooting from his home, said he’s lived there for 17 years and once owned a bar called Joe N' Andy's Hole In The Wall.

He said the street of small single-family homes is a quiet one.

“Nothing happens here,” he said.