Metro IDs cops who killed man

Keith Paul

Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2000 | 10:38 a.m.

Metro Police have identified the two policemen who shot and killed a man Saturday night as Officers Zachary Huffine and Shane Witham.

Huffine and Witham shot John Charles O'Banion about 9:50 p.m. Saturday in the driveway of a house on Aberdeen Lane near Torrey Pines Drive and U.S. 95. Police say O'Banion raised a handgun at officers.

Huffine, 23, has been an officer for about a year and Witham, 31, has been an officer for about 5 1/2 years. They are both on paid administrative leave pending a coroner's inquest into O'Banion's death. No date for the inquest had been set as of this morning.

Police started chasing O'Banion after he refused to pull over for a traffic violation. He led police on a chase and crashed into a yard at Dinning Avenue and Talmage Street. O'Banion kicked in the front door of a house and ran through it, exiting out a sliding glass door, police said.

O'Banion then hid by a parked car. Huffine and Witham were on a roof while officers on the ground were looking for O'Banion. The officers fired after O'Banion rose up from his hiding spot and pointed a gun at officers, police said.

O'Banion previously had been convicted of burglary, auto burglary and possession of a stolen vehicle, police said.