Man shot, killed after standoff

Andrew Edwards

A brief standoff with police on Saturday ended when officers shot and

killed a man in Downtown Huntington Beach.

Steve Hills, 43, aimed a replica handgun at officers and

threatened to kill himself and them, officials said.

Hills, who lived on 13th Street with his fiancee, Sheri Marang,

and her three children, reportedly called police from the corner of

4th Street and Orange Avenue on his cellphone Saturday and told the

911 operator he was suicidal and planned to kill himself or a police

officer.

Hills said he had a gun and described his clothing. Minutes later,

at about 4:35 p.m., police found him at the corner of Orange and

14th, where a short but deadly confrontation began.

“The total incident lasted less than eight minutes,” Huntington

Beach Sgt. Dave Bunetta said. Bunetta called the shooting a “suicide

by cop.”

Hills’ fiancee said he was a loving man who battled mental

illness.

“He was a great guy,” she said. “He was a great dad to my kids. He

loved me with everything he had.”

Hills suffered from bipolar disorder and had been released from

Huntington Beach Hospital on Saturday morning, Marang said. He was

admitted after having attempted suicide on June 30. Hills had been

drinking and took Ambien, a sleeping pill, before the confrontation,

and Marang said the pill had a potent effect on him.

“He had no control of himself,” she said.

Police said Hills was very agitated and did not obey officers’

commands. During the confrontation, he brandished what appeared to be

a large, semi-automatic pistol, put the object back in his pocket,

and then aimed it at police, who immediately shot and killed him.

Several neighbors saw or heard the shooting.

Walter Ginther and his son were preparing for the Fourth of July

by putting up flags when they saw police pointing their weapons at

the man.

“We just kind of joked about it,” Ginther said, “I told my son,

‘Hey Bob, they got their guns out.”

They ducked inside, but after not hearing anything, the two went

back outside just before the shooting started, Ginther said. They hit

the ground as soon as the gunfire erupted.

“We just went down,” he said.

Not all of the shots hit their target.

Neighbors offered varying accounts of how many shots were fired.

Some said they heard as many as 20; others said the number was fewer

than 10.

“The only fact I can tell you is I heard seven or eight shots,”

Kevin O’ Hanlon said.

“The officer that I saw fire was standing in the intersection,”

Jeanne Matson said. “I saw him fire six shots.”

Police said the area around the shooting was closed until about

11:30 p.m. Matson said she wasn’t able to leave until about 7:30

p.m., but credited police with being polite to the neighbors during

the investigation.

“They were really nice,” she said. “Nobody got tough.”

The shooting is being investigated by the Orange County Sheriff’s

Department, the agency that investigates all police shootings as a

matter of policy. The officers who fired have been off duty since the

shooting but are expected to return to duty shortly, Huntington Beach

Lt. Janet Perez said.

The last time a Huntington Beach police officer fired his weapon

was on June 1, 2003, when Officer Corwin Bales shot and killed

Kenneth Sean Anderson, a 30-year-old Huntington Beach man who

reportedly stole cigarettes and a lighter from a gas station. Bales,

who received the Medal of Courage, shot Anderson as he barreled

toward police in his car.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers education and crime. He can be reached at

(714) 965-7177, (949) 494-4321 or [email protected].