A Riverside County sheriff’s deputy who was fatally shot in Lake Elsinore on Friday was a former San Diego police officer, officials confirmed.
Deputy Darnell Calhoun, 30, was killed while investigating a domestic violence and child custody matter on Hilldale Lane near Sandalwood Lane around 5 p.m., Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said in a news conference. A second deputy who arrived at the incident found Calhoun wounded in the street and got into a gun fight with the suspect.
The suspect was hit in the shoot-out and is in critical condition, Bianco said. Calhoun was also taken to a hospital, where he was initially listed in serious condition. The Sheriff’s Department announced his death around 8 p.m
“There is not one person with one negative thing to say about him,” Bianco said of Calhoun. “He was the most cheerful, the most positive, the most good, wholesome man you could imagine. And now a father, a mother, a wife and us are trying to figure out why.”
Calhoun’s wife is pregnant, the sheriff said.
San Diego police officials said Calhoun was hired as recruit in 2019 and graduated the 121st Regional Academy in February 2020. He was a patrol officer out of Northeastern Division and was a “beloved and respected” member of the department.
“I am devastated at the loss of Deputy Darnell Calhoun,” said Chief of Police David Nisleit. “Deputy Calhoun served our San Diego and Riverside County communities with honor and selflessness. I want to extend my deepest condolences to Deputy Calhoun’s family and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office as our SDPD family and I mourn along side them.”
Calhoun was one of many San Diego police officers to leave the city department in fiscal year 2022, which saw an exodus of more than 240 officers, officials said. More than 60 of those departures were transfers to other law enforcement agencies, according to city data.
In an interview with KPBS, Calhoun said he chose to leave after other officers resigned because of the city’s vaccine mandate, leaving those that chose to stay with increased workloads. Morale was “touch and go,” he said. Calhoun added that he was glad to be working closer to his home in Lake Elsinore.
Bianco said during the Friday night news conference about the incident that San Diego police officers who used to work with Calhoun drove up to Riverside after hearing of the shooting.
The shooting comes two weeks after Riverside County Deputy Isaiah Cordero, 32, was fatally shot during a traffic stop in Jurupa Valley. Bianco said Cordero was the first Riverside County deputy killed in the line of duty since 2003.