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Subscribe to RSSUpdated at 9:19 p.m. ET: A Lakeside, Calif. man confronted about alleged child porn opened fire inside his apartment, shooting and injuring two deputies before shooting himself, according to the man’s girlfriend.
The girlfriend told NBC San Diego that she was getting her two daughters ready for school when she found pornographic pictures of her boyfriend and her two daughters engaged in sex acts on his cell phone. The suspect has been identified as Daniel Robert Witczak, 30.
The woman headed to the sheriff’s office, showed them the photos and called the suspect on a deputy-tapped phone line to confront him.
Her boyfriend told her that he planned to sell the photos for $50,000 to a child porn site.
The couple had been dating a year, the woman said, who added that her boyfriend was unemployed. She said he planned to support them with the money he would have made with the photos.
Read full coverage at NBCSanDiego.com
Deputies, including a child abuse detective, entered the apartment complex to confront the suspect while the woman and her daughters waited outside. The woman said that after the deputies stormed the apartment, her boyfriend shot the two deputies with a high-powered rifle and then shot himself.
Both deputies were transported to Sharp Memorial Hospital, KPBS.org reported. Lt. Duncan Fraser of the sheriff's office said at a press conference that both men were in surgery.
One patient arriving to a Sharp Memorial Hospital was shirtless on the first gurney coming out of the Lakeside Fire District paramedics van. That ambulance was followed by another carrying a victim covered by medical cloth.
The suspect was transported to Scripps Mercy Hospital, according to a hospital source. His former employer told NBC News that he had been employed as a mechanic but was fired after a week because he was unreliable.
The shooting occurred at Ashwood and Mapleview streets just south of the Lakeside Rodeo Grounds, said Lt. Mike Munsey of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.
Resident Jodi Davis, who lives across the street from where the shooting occurred, said she heard between 12 and 18 shots.
“Multiple shots, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,” Davis said. “I said, 'Oh my gosh -- those are gunshots!'"
She said the police ordered her and her neighbors back into their apartments.
Nearby El Capitan High School went into lockdown; students were dismissed at 1:20 p.m.
NBC San Diego reporters at the scene said officers responded from agencies throughout San Diego County.
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Leave a Comment:
Wonder if this guy was here legally....
Wonder why a single mother would put up with a 'boyfriend' who was unemployed....
Wonder if he was on a sex offender registry and if so, did the mother check.....
Too many single women having to take care of kids alone. Why don't we put the blame where it belongs?
American men have decided that they can change wives/girlfriends like dance partners. They marry, produce kids and run off from the responsibility for both. Women are alone, it is very difficult financially to do it alone and they are stressed. I know there are really good men in America, but look at the number who are bad husbands and fathers. We have a problem in this country! Time to look at what that problem really is!
My ex ran off with a 20 year old and abandoned me and his daughter! He hurt our little girl deeply by the abandonment. I was so afraid that another man would come in and hurt our daughter, that I just didn't even try to find someone. I raised her well, and worked until I dropped to do it. I would do it all over again. But, we have a sad state of affairs in this country.
Whenever I hear of another friend/acquaintance who is being cheated on, lied to, deceived, etc., by their husbands, I am not shocked anymore. I just wonder "who is next?"
I am a professional business woman. We aren't talking "trailer park" people. I don't know what is wrong with men these days.
The emphasis on sex in our city is detrimental. People are gonna do it just fine, no need to constantly promote it. Porn can be very detrimental to many people and should probably have more oversight.
I own guns but am not a gun nut. I do not worry about the govt taking all guns away. That said I don't think the few controls we have our working.
I hate to see two officers shot. "Guns don't shoot people, people shoot people"? EXACTLY. People are idiots.
NO!. The Right thing is to NOT bring some D**k into your home around your children to live off of you! That takes away from the kids as well as the mom. When will these women learn. And so many so called 'boyfriends' are NOT after you, they are after your offspring, boys & girls alike. I wouldn't even want some of these creatures to even know wheremy children and I reside. Wake up women and take care of your First Priority, your child(ren). You can do bad all by yourself; who needs help with that.
Looks like "wrestling nite" has a new meaning in this place
Poor attempt to be funny, or what?
jail for the rest of his life.
These girls were little too, i found their ages out on another article! I pray this POS get locked away for good!
A woman who identified herself as Witczak’s girlfriend said she found pornographic photographs of her daughters, ages 6 and 8, on his cellphone at 7:30 a.m. and soon after reported it to the Sheriff’s Department.
realamericansfirst looks like the editor here, and not a good editor at that.
"It's ok, Honey. I'm a professional child pornographer."
Another lunatic pretends he is a nice guy, and gets the girl and her girls. And the lunatic also plans to support them?
Disgusting creep
The good news is that the police were only wounded....hopefully when he turned the gun on himself he was a better shot
I know that a single mother shouldnt have to do a background check on a boyfriend but maybe that is what is necessary today. I used to work at a Juvenile Detention facility and had to pay $50.00 to get one before I could work there. And yes.....I passed the background check
I am so sorry for the officers that were shot. I hope this man survives just long enough for mom to throw some acid on his not so private privates.
I hope the little girls will get the help they will so definately need and will be able to go on and enjoy what is left of their childhood.
god bless them all.
This story will repeat itself over and over. It just never ends. Member mutilation should be required as a minimum punishment for these low lives.
And perhaps pictures of the procedure could be sold on some website for $50,000 and the proceeds should go to the children for therapy after having been subjected to this man's depravity.
First of all...before I called the police...I would have cut off his you know what and flushed it down the toilet so it couldn't be sewn back on...then I would have called the cops with the proof of what he did!!!
Strange way to handle an investigation. Larry Brinkman is still running around free and they just arrested him again.
So the guy cant hold a job down and apparently is not lookin for work. Dont know but women need to get over moving in with a guy because they have so much in common, they drink the same light beer. Then to this guy is 30 how many other kids are out there that noone knows about. Might explain why he went to shooting so fast.
And sorry to disagree its a small step from adult porn to kiddie porn. theres enough mags out there that have women who look young and are dressed young. course its free speech right?
Since no one else going to say it I am..............white men + children (boy or girl) = child molestation. This is 90 percent correct, so white woman go ahead keep being afraid of others when the devil sleeps next to you.
Since no one is going to say it, black people = crime 90% of the time. Mexicans = drug dealers 90% of the time. Italians = mobsters 90% of the time.
I can make up stupid crap too, doesn't make a word of it true.
The deputies wouldn't have had to worry about being shot by him if those were my daughters. They'd be coming to arrest me.
The posts on here are just crazy! If you read the article, the cops did not take the kids to confront this guy. The mom and kids stayed outside. How do you know that she didn't drive there while the cops confronted this guy?
1. Then, all of you against the cops. Here they are attempting to get this sick pedophile and both are shot, and you say horrible things about the police. I hope both officers recover fully. I thank them for trying to get the scumbag pedophile.
2. Then, it is the mother's fault! She shouldn't try to have another relationship of a father figure for her kids. Perhaps some of you "big tough men" should consider the fact many, many husbands and fathers do not take the responsibility of marriage and fatherhood seriously anymore. Why do you think so many women end up single and raising kids? Because the husbands/fathers run off to start a new life. It's just too hard to be a husband and a father. They want to play instead.
3. Why don't you "tough guys" out there put the responsibility where it belongs! The creep guy that she probably thought she could trust and the biological father who obviously didn't care to keep his commitment to his wife and his kids!
Ok, I understand trying to support your girlfriend and her kids but on what planet was it a good idea to molest them for a profit? Well at least he had the decsency to rid the world of himself.
Not to nitpick, I dislike the title of this piece. Child porn implies more the man was downloading pictures off the internet, rather than making the videos himself. Child molester or rapist would be far more fitting.
Look who is calling the pot black. In this comment there are 16 errors. You are not using proper English, capitalization, proper conjugations or punctuation . Just saying is all.
Nearby El Capitan High School went into lockdown; students were dismissed at 1:20 p.m. Lucky little b@stards.
Was she that lonely? "They" dated for a year? So she let him live @ her apartment because he's unemployed? First you should know who you "mate" with..especially when you have girls..boys aren't safe these days either..but why didn't the girls speak up? Didn't they know their situation was strange or unusual? This story is missing some important links.....I wish he could go to jail so that Big Jim (dressed as a woman) can FK his azz up..literally!!! Show no mercy!