Update: Man killed in Paso Robles shootout with SWAT after ‘high-risk’ police standoff
The Paso Robles Police Department on Tuesday released more details about the early morning shootout that resulted in the death of a 32-year-old man.
Members of the San Luis Obispo Regional Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team shot and killed the armed suspect around 1:15 a.m. Tuesday after the man barricaded himself in an apartment and fired at officers, the Paso Robles Police Department said.
Police identified the man as Steven Adam Calderon, most recently of Los Angeles.
“It’s not lost on us that a mother and father lost their child,” Paso Robles Police Chief Ty Lewis said during a news conference on Tuesday. “However this event, certainly we did everything that we could to get Mr. Calderon to surrender peacefully. But that didn’t happen.”
Man barricades himself in apartment, fires shots at police
According to police, officers were dispatched to an apartment complex near the 2400 block of Branch Creek Circle on Monday afternoon after Calderon fired a gun and threatened to shoot his girlfriend.
Lewis said it was unclear if Calderon had been living in Paso Robles or was visiting his girlfriend.
Calderon then barricaded himself inside the apartment and fired several shots at officers while they attempted to negotiate with him, police said.
“This turned into a high-risk encounter for the police and for the community, so we decided to use our Special Weapons and Tactics team,” Lewis said.
Lewis said Calderon’s interactions with police officers, SWAT team members and a crisis negotiation team throughout “didn’t prove fruitful.”
“They throughout the night tried different tactics,” Lewis said. “Mr. Calderon instead of engaging in any kind of dialogue would emerge from the house at several different times and fire several shots at the police officers and SWAT team with a handgun.”
Lewis said most of those shots were “absorbed by special equipment” such as the Bearcat armored car at the scene.
Suspect fatally shot by SWAT team after lunging for gun
At around 1:15 a.m. Tuesday, Calderon came out of the residence, laid his gun on the porch and started talking with officers.
At one point, however, he “lunged” for his gun and SWAT officers shot him, Lewis said.
Police said SWAT medics and Paso Robles Emergency Services personnel treated the suspect but “he ultimately succumbed to his wounds.”
Lewis said no law enforcement officers were injured in the incident — unlike the May shooting in San Luis Obispo that left a police detective dead and another wounded.
“For us the message to the community is that none of the people at the Dry Creek apartments were injured, none of our police officers were injured — thank God, especially in the wake of the tragedy that happened recently in San Luis Obispo,” Lewis said.
In that incident, San Luis Obispo police Det. Luca Benedetti was shot and killed by Edward “Eddie” Giron as he and five other officers served a search warrant on Giron’s apartment related to what officials say were several commercial burglaries.
Giron also died in the shootout. An autopsy shows he was shot 14 times, including a fatal, apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Another San Luis Obispo Police Department officer, Det. Steve Orozco, was injured in that incident.
On Tuesday, Lewis said two Paso Robles police officers and one San Luis Obispo police officer have been placed on administrative leave while authorities investigate the Paso Robles shooting that killed Calderon.
Neighbors fearful during standoff with suspect
Neighbors living nearby the scene of the shootout at Dry Creek Apartments said they spent much of Monday night and early Tuesday morning sitting scared in their apartments.
The large apartment complex is home to families with children on summer break from school. Many residents primarily speak Spanish.
Residents told The Tribune they heard gunshots and listened to the SWAT team negotiate with Calderon over a loudspeaker.
They said police evacuated some people living close to the scene of the standoff, while other neighborhood residents stayed inside and watched the situation until early Tuesday morning.
Some didn’t know what was going on, and they feared being shot while negotiations were taking place.
Keana Gilbert said police began telling neighbors to stay away from the area near the scene about 6 p.m. Monday.
She and her children could hear gunshots and saw SWAT team members negotiating with Calderon until early Tuesday morning.
“We were terrified, especially when the shooting started,” Gilbert said.
She said she could hear Calderon yelling curse words at the SWAT team and telling them to kill him, even as officers gave him opportunities to surrender.
Gilbert and other residents said they usually feel safe at Dry Creek Apartments, and the shooting and standoff came as a surprise.
“I don’t really have any concerns,” Gilbert said. “That’s why it was such a huge shock.”
This story was originally published July 6, 2021 at 12:11 PM.
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