One San Diego police officer was shot and killed and another was injured as they tried to make a stop, leading to one arrest and an extensive hunt for other suspects, police said.
The officer who died was Jonathan "JD" DeGuzman, 43, a 16-year department veteran and father of two, police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said Friday at a news conference.
 |
| Jonathan "JD" DeGuzman |
Officer Wade Irwin, 32, a nine-year veteran, was in serious condition but is expected to survive, Zimmerman said.
Jesse
Michael Gomez, 52, was charged in the shootings, Zimmerman said, though
she did not specify the charges. Zimmerman said Gomez was shot in the
upper torso and was in critical condition at a hospital.
 |
| Wade Irwin |
In their search for other suspects, police surrounded a house and stormed the residence after an a six-hour standoff, CNN affiliate KFMB reported. Nobody was found inside but Marcus Antonio Cassani, 41, was taken into custody a short distance away, KFMB reported.
Zimmerman
said Cassani was being held on an outstanding warrant and investigators
are not sure if he was involved in the shootings. Police did not say
what the outstanding warrant was for.
The shooting occurred late Thursday night in the Southcrest section in the south part of the city, Zimmerman said.
The
two officers, members of the department's gang suppression unit,
radioed shortly before 11 p.m. that they were going to stop someone,
Zimmerman said. She said investigators have not determined whether it
was a vehicle or a pedestrian stop or why officers were making the stop.
Almost immediately, they called for emergency backup, Zimmerman said.
Asked whether the shooting was an ambush, the chief said it wasn't clear.
Zimmerman
said officers who responded to the pair's call for help made a heroic
attempt to save the life of their other colleague, rushing him to a
hospital in a squad vehicle.
"(There were) heroic efforts by the
officers on scene, heroic efforts by the doctors to save his life," she
said, adding that he had been shot in the upper body more than once.
Zimmerman said both officers wore body cameras, and other videos of the incident are available.
The chief said Irwin regained consciousness and was able to talk about what happened. He is expected to make a full recovery.
The chief said Irwin regained consciousness and was able to talk about what happened. He is expected to make a full recovery.
Zimmerman
said she'd worked personally with DeGuzman, who she called a loving
husband and father who "talked about his family all the time."
"I
know him, and this is gut-wrenching," she said. "He cared. He came to
work every single day just wanting to make a positive difference in the
lives of our community. And last night he lost his life trying to make a
positive difference and trying to protect our community."
Officers' shooting deaths up 79% from last year
On the subject of police shootings, Zimmerman said: "We have seen this happen way too many times just in the last few weeks."
Thursday's violence comes as this year's shooting deaths of U.S. law enforcement officers outpaces those of 2015.
As
of Friday, 34 U.S. law enforcement officers had died from shootings in
2016, a 79% increase from the total in the same period last year,
according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which keeps data on officers killed on the job.
Many
of this year's deaths came during a summer of heightened tensions
between law enforcement and the communities they serve after civilian
cameras captured the shooting deaths of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota at the hands of police.
Among the officer deaths this summer were the July 17 killings of three officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a July 7 attack in Dallas that killed five officers.
Annual
rates of officer shooting deaths have fluctuated over the past 10
years. The decade's highest total came in 2011, with 73 officers shot
dead.
Firearms were responsible for
41 of 123 officer fatalities in 2015, according to the memorial fund,
but it was not the No. 1 cause of death. Traffic-related incidents, such
as automobile and motorcycle crashes, caused 48 deaths.
So far in 2016, gun-related deaths are the leading cause, followed by 24 traffic-related fatalities.
No comments:
Post a Comment