Shooting Suspect's Mother Apologizes for Son's Actions

Two days after her 23-year-old son went on a crime spree, shooting and killing a San Diego police officer, Tamica Berason stepped outside her home and apologized for her son's actions.

โ€œI just want to apologize to the two other families, you know, and Iโ€™m sad that this happened,โ€ Berason said.

On Saturday, Dejon Marquee White, 23, was killed in a shootout with San Diego police officers outside his apartment complex on 48th Street in City Heights. 

He was armed with a shotgun and suspected of fatally shooting SDPD Officer Jeremy Henwood shortly after 5:30 p.m. at University Avenue and 45th Street in City Heights, police said.

Investigators believe White was involved in a suicidal crime spree beginning at an In-N-Out on N. Magnolia at 5:22 p.m. Saturday. Martin Hana was shot in the face while he sat in the restaurant's parking lot. Hana was expected to survive.

White's family spent Monday at Berason's house not far from where White had been living.

Family members said White stopped by his mother's house Saturday just hours before the shootings to help water her lawn.

They are still trying to understand what happened and at this point don't know why the young man , who seemed to be trying to distance himself from his criminal history, suddenly snapped.

โ€œHe wasnโ€™t drinking or doing any drugs or anything. He was getting his life on track. He was working and he had his own apartment,โ€ Berason said.

Those close to White said they were surprised by his actions.

White worked for Urban Corps of San Diego, joining the program in January and helping remove brush in the county. In the past week, however, White stopped attending work and missed a forklift training course.

"Total mystery," said Sam Duran, CEO of Urban Corps. "Total mystery of what was going on."

The organization noticed White's absence last week and staffers were in the process of trying to contact him to find out what was going on Duran said.

Duran said White "never gave us any indication whatsoever that there was anything troubling him or what it was he was thinking."

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