Family members say a paralyzed man was killed when his former caregiver drove a minivan into an Irvine home Monday morning.
The events began around 2:15 a.m. when police responded to the area of Whistling Swan and Wetstone in the Woodbridge neighborhood after a vehicle drove into a home, Irvine Police Department spokesperson Kyle Oldoerp said.
Someone inside the home called police, who arrived to find an unidentified man dead at the scene.
A gas leak was also discovered at the home, which was later mitigated, Oldoerp said.
As police were investigating the incident an officer contacted a possible suspect on foot near West Yale Loop and Stone Creek South around 3:15 a.m.
“An officer-involved shooting did occur and a knife was recovered at the scene,” Oldoerp said.
It was unclear how police found the person at the location or what prompted the officer, or officers, to open fire.
The suspect, who has not been identified, was hospitalized in serious condition following the shooting.”
Investigators have not shared details about any relationship between the victim and the suspect but family members say it was a former caregiver who rammed his van into the home killing their brother Johhny Bash who was confined to a wheelchair.
“He had an accident years ago and he was paralyzed from the waist down,” the victim’s brother-in-law, Lindsey Myers, said. “So, he was a helpless victim in this thing.”
“Johnny [was] an excellent person, but also a defenseless person,” Myers added. “He had no chance, no chance to defend himself … it’s the saddest thing I’ve ever, ever seen.”
