Man shot at SDSU off-campus apartments BLVD63

SAN DIEGO — A large group of people flooded a street in the College Area as police tried to sort through the scene of a shooting at an apartment complex early Sunday morning.

The shooting happened around 2 a.m. at the BLVD63 complex on El Cajon Boulevard, just east of College Avenue, a San Diego police watch commander told FOX 5 by phone.

The official had little further information about the shooting, saying only that one man was shot and taken to the hospital by ambulance.

Video from 619 News Media showed a large group of young people, some yelling or gesturing angrily, gathered at a gate to the complex. As more police arrived and paramedics brought the victim out of the building on a gurney, more people flooded the streets, standing around the block or slowly walking away from the scene.

The watch commander said he couldn’t confirm whether there was a party at the complex — which caters to San Diego State University students, according to its website. He confirmed there was “a lot of commotion” when officers arrived.

The police official also mentioned that his department is struggling with staffing issues.

Last month, an 18-year-old was shot leaving a party at a building about a block away from Sunday morning’s shooting.

In a San Diego Union-Tribune report last week, the newspaper’s Lyndsay Winkley highlighted the young man’s shooting as an example of slow police response times to the College Area, where neighbors say they call about loud parties but don’t often get help.

Statistics reviewed by the U-T showed police response times are the worst they’ve been in more than a decade, though still prompt for the highest priority calls like shootings.

Union officials interviewed by the paper blame staffing struggles, pointing to the city’s vaccine mandate but also a range of other factors affecting recruiting and retainment.

The BLVD63 shooting was one of at least three that happened in the city of San Diego late Saturday or early Sunday morning.

In Linda Vista, a man was shot and killed around 5 a.m., according to police. And in the Mid-City area, three men got shot outside a party around 10:40 p.m. Saturday.

Police urged anyone with information about the fatal shooting to call the San Diego Police Homicide Unit at 619-531-2293. On any of the shootings, tipsters can call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 888-580-8477.