Officer fatally shoots man

A Fairfield police officer shot and killed a man Monday during a struggle at a home, authorities said.

The shooting hap- pened at a home on the 700 block of Gold Coast Drive about 6 p.m., police said. Officer Adam Ponce was investigating reports that someone had been following a schoolgirl and taking pictures of her and contacted Robert Mcmullan investigate a report of a suspicious man in a sport utility vehicle, Engle said. Officers approached the SUV and ordered the suspect, identified as Derek Hicks, 44, of El Sobrante, to turn off the ignition, Engle said.

But Hicks refused and instead “revved the vehicle’s engine and started to drive quickly” toward one of the officers, Engle said.

That officer fired five shots, but the driver drove away from the complex, police said.

Hicks showed up at Doctors Medical Center at his home, police said.

Mcmullan, who owned a vehicle that was spotted in the incident with the girl, became violent, prompting Ponce to shoot him, police said.

Ponce, a 10-year veteran who previously served six years with the in San Pablo with a minor gunshot wound to his shoulder about 11 p.m, Engle said. After being treated, he was booked at Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez on suspicion of assaulting police with a deadly weapon — the SUV — plus resisting arrest, drug violations and a probation violation.

The officer who fired his gun wasn’t identified. He was placed on paid administrative leave, a routine procedure, pending investigations by police and the district attorney’s office. Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office, was placed on routine paid administrative leave.

In February, Ponce shot and wounded a woman after she allegedly aimed a car at him, police said.