DEPUTY WHO KILLED DETAINEE RESIGNS

A 23-year-old deputy who shot and killed an escaped detainee last week resigned Wednesday from the county Sheriff ’s Department, a spokesman for the department said.

Aaron Russell’s resignation, first reported Thursday by NBC7, came five days after he fatally shot 36-year-old San Diego resident Nicholas Peter Bils around 5:50 p.m. last Friday.

Russell had been with the department for about 18 months, according to the San Diego Police Department, which is handling the investigation.

He had been assigned to the Court Services Bureau, but was recently temporarily reassigned to the Detention Services Bureau due to the coronavirus pandemic, sheriff ’s Lt. Ricardo Lopez said in a statement.

According to San Diego police, Bils escaped from a California State Park ranger’s car Friday evening just outside a vehicle gate to the San Diego Central Jail on Front Street and B Street.

Bils apparently made his escape by slipping at least one wrist from his handcuffs, then reaching out the open window of a ranger’s car to open the door from the outside, San Diego police homicide Lt. Matt Dobbs said this week.

Russell and another deputy were on their way into work at the jail when they saw the escape and chased Bils, who ran north on Front Street toward vehicles stopped in traffic, according to Dobbs and police homicide Capt. Richard Freedman.

That’s when Russell opened fire, shooting Bils at least once, Dobbs said.

Deputies working in jails do not wear body cameras, so no footage was available from Russell or the other deputy, Dobbs said Wednesday. The incident was recorded on surveillance cameras.

Rangers had arrested Bils last Friday afternoon for allegedly threatening a ranger with a golf club at Old Town San Diego State Park, Dobbs said.

In an interview with NBC7 on Monday, Kathleen Bils said she was told her son “brandished a golf putter” near a ranger at the park. She said he would use the putter to hit a ball while walking with his dog.

Kathleen Bils also told the television station her son was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.