A former sheriff’s deputy who shot an unarmed detainee in May as the man ran from authorities outside the downtown San Diego jail has been charged with murder, a rare move by prosecutors that makes him the first member of local law enforcement to face a murder charge in the shooting death of a suspect.
A former sheriff’s deputy who shot an unarmed detainee in May as the man ran from authorities outside the downtown San Diego jail has been charged with murder, a rare move by prosecutors that makes him the first member of local law enforcement to face a murder charge in the shooting death of a suspect.The District Attorney’s Office announced Monday that it is charging former detentions deputy Aaron Russell, 23, with second-degree murder in the May 1 death of Nicholas Peter Bils, 36.
Russell, who resigned from the county Sheriff’s Department in the days after the shooting, is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday morning in San Diego Superior Court. He is charged under a theory of second-degree murder, which carries a potential sentence of 15 years to life in prison. He also faces an allegation that he used a gun in the killing, which could add up to 10 years to his sentence if he is convicted.