San Diego police officers shot and killed a man after he allegedly pointed a black revolver at them while sitting in a car during a roughly 40-minute standoff in the Stockton neighborhood late Friday morning, investigators said. Authorities did not immediately identify the man, but described him as being in his early 20’s. Officers reported finding the handgun inside the car and reported no other injuries. “As you can only imagine, no deputy or officer ever wants to fire (their firearm); that’s not what anyone wants to do,” sheriff’s Lt. Juan Márquez said. The Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting under a countywide protocol designed to prevent agencies from investigating shootings by their own officers. The shooting occurred after a police sergeant was flagged down around 10:10 a.m. by a pedestrian who said they had witnessed a man pointing a black handgun at another person near K and 31st streets, Márquez said. Within a minute, several officers were searching for the man, said to be sitting in a blue Ford Fusion. Police soon spotted the car parked across the street from Bethel AME Church, and found a man matching the description of the reported gunman sitting inside it. A woman was in the passenger seat. “Officers immediately began negotiating with the subjects and asked them to come out,” Márquez said. Márquez said the man refused to get out of the sedan, but the woman willingly exited and surrendered. She was not taken into custody, investigators said. Officers continued to negotiate with the man, and called in SWAT team members for assistance, Márquez said. Some time later, the officers fired pepper balls — a less-lethal, fire-pepper projectile that becomes an irritant on impact — into the car’s open window. The man still refused to exit. Around 10:50 a.m., the man allegedly pointed a handgun out of a car window, according to Márquez. “Officers, fearing for their safety, the safety of their partners and the safety of citizens, then fired multiple rounds inside the vehicle, striking the subject,” Márquez said. “One sergeant and five San Diego police officers fired either their handguns or rifles, and it’s unknown how many rounds were fired.” Márquez said investigators are still looking into it, but they don’t believe the man opened fire on officers. The officers then moved in to pull the wounded gunman from the car and perform life-saving measures before paramedics took over and transported him to a hospital. He died at the hospital around 11:30 a.m. Officers said the woman who surrendered to officers at the scene is cooperating with investigators. ...read more read less