Police are investigating the officer involved in a fatal shooting in southeast Bakersfield, Calif.

Officer Aaron Stringer was identified as the cop who shot and killed a Bakersfield man who allegedly attempted to set a woman on fire.

According to a Bakersfield Police Department press release, Stringer shot Michael Laray Dozer, 26, after Dozer allegedly pointed a black metal object at him and charged forward. Witnesses told police the object was a U-shaped black metal bicycle lock.

The website Private Officer Breaking News reported on June 27,2010, that Officer Aaron Stringer was arrested for DUI and hit and run for driving under the influence of prescription medication. Kern Golden Empire reported that the officer was on Ambien.Stringer and his partner, Officer Isaac Aleman, were involved in a shooting at the 7-11 on Wilson Road in September 2009. Aleman was wounded and both officers were cleared in the shooting. Stringer received the department's Medal of Valor.

On Wednesday afternoon, a Bakersfield police officer shot and killed a Michael Laray Dozer, 26. Police were responding to calls that Dozer allegedly splashed gasoline on a woman and tried to light her on fire while her children were in the car. A police spokesman claims that the first officer on the scene believed the man might have been armed. Witnesses say the man was holding an object that they described as a horsehoe shaped bike lock. The police allege that the man charged the officer, who shot him once in the chest.

Sgt. Joe Grubbs of the Bakersfield Police Department said the man suffered a gunshot wound and was taken to Kern Medical Center. He was pronounced dead at 1:28 p.m., about an hour after the shooting.

"He was doing some erratic things striking items around the business like the fence that type of thing he was throwing furniture outside in the patio area," said Grubbs.  

Grubbs said witnesses claimed that the man acting erratically for three hours at the TMP gas station at 2140 E. Brundage Lane, Bakersfield, Calif.,  for about three hours before the incident. Police claim witnesses say the man yelled obscenities and knocked over items including patio furniture.

A statement from the Bakersfield Police Department said the officer who shot the man has been placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure.

The Bakersfield Police Department is asking that any additional witnesses should call  661-327-7111661-327-7111 .

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