Man pleads not guilty in shootout with deputies
Five artists produce what’s hoped to be the first of a series
EL CAJON
A man accused of opening fire on a group of sheriff ’s deputies investigating a report of domestic violence at the Barona Indian Reservation, shooting his girlfriend in the process, pleaded not guilty in El Cajon Superior Court Tuesday to nearly 20 felony counts, including five counts of attempted murder on a peace officer.
Gianni Oliver, 23, faces life imprisonment if convicted of charges stemming from the Jan. 31 shooting, in which the sheriff’s deputies reHis turned fire. No deputies were injured, but Oliver’s 23-year-old girlfriend was shot during the exchange, allegedly by the defendant, according to sheriff’s Lt. Thomas Seiver.
She was treated at a hospital. Her injuries were not considered life threatening, Seiver said.
The law enforcement authorities involved have been identified as San Diego County sheriff ’s Sgt. Michael Cruz and deputies Bryson Benavente, Tony Bernal, Nicholas McGregor and Robert Simpson.
According to Seiver, the deputies were investigating a report of “a domestic incident involving a man and a woman” about 8:20 p.m. on Capitan Grande, east of Wildcat Canyon Road. While they were speaking with Oliver’s girlfriend, the defendant allegedly started shooting at the deputies, who returned fire.
Oliver surrendered following a brief standoff, Seiver said. He was taken to a hospital for treatment of a minor injury, but he was not shot, the lieutenant said.
In addition to the attempted murder counts, Oliver faces seven counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm and six counts of being a felon or prohibited person in possession of a firearm. He also faces one count of robbery pertaining to an unrelated crime that occurred the same day as the shooting.
According to the complaint, Oliver has a 2016 county conviction for assault with a deadly weapon.
When coronavirus cases surged in December and she feared for the health care workers she knew, Encinitas Friends of the Arts President Naimeh Woodward found solace through art.
She brought together four other artists to create decorative banners thanking front-line workers — hospital staff, mail carriers, grocery story clerks and firefighters — who were helping keep the community safe. Last week, their five new banner designs started appearing along some of the city’s busier roadways and at community facilities.
“We just wanted people know we care about them,” Woodward said as she described the new project Friday.
The effort touches her personally. She has a number of friends who work in health care and her daughter is in nursing school and expects to have her certification soon, she said. While Woodward was handling the banner project last week, her daughter was working a
12-hour shift and helping vaccinate high-risk people, she added.
At the intersection of Via Cantebria and Encinitas Boulevard, drivers can see two of the new banners. Facing one way is an image of butterflies soaring over a bed of roses and hands
folded in prayer. Artist Kirsten Francis created that one, while one of the newer members of the Encinitas Friends of the Arts group, Sean Hnedak, produced the other, which showcases the faces of front-line workers and offers a heartfelt, “Thank you” message.
The third participating artist, Deanne Sabeck, combined hands holding a heart with an iconic scene of a surfer at sunset for her banner, while artist Patricia Frischer drew hot air balloons rising over words that described front-line workers, including “grit” and “courage.”
Woodward used a huge pink rose in her banner design, which can be spotted on the fence at the city’s Leo Mullen Sports Park.
“To me a rose is very significant, especially a pink rose; it’s all about love,” she said, noting that a message of love is perfect for February.
The new Friends of the Arts banner project was produced in partnership with the city’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department. It was inspired by the popular Arts Alive downtown banner program, which provides banners with original artwork to decorate the Coast Highway 101 corridor each year,
Woodward said.
When Woodward first proposed the idea of artistically expressing gratitude for front-line workers, there was talk of producing a mural. That shifted to images on vinyl banners because they could be done in a speedy fashion and installed in multiple places in the community, she said.
“We wanted to do it fairly quickly; we didn’t want to dillydally,” she said.
The Friends group is now collecting messages of thanks for front-line workers through its website. People can submit notes and drawings to encinitasarts@gmail.com. Woodward added that she’s also open to getting more banners printed, if businesses or community organizations want to display them.
“We’re happy to do that,” she said, commenting that doing more of this kind of thing would “make people feel better.”