Officers Shoot Holdup Suspect After Chase

FULLERTON â€”  Police critically wounded a robbery suspect Friday after he opened fire on an officer and led police on a car chase.

The man, whom police said they could not immediately identify, was shot several times by two officers who had cornered him after he crashed into an embankment, Fullerton Police Capt. Lee DeVore said. The man appeared to be reaching for a gun, he added.

Police said a .38-caliber gun was later found on the floor of the car.

Neither officer was wounded. Their names were not released.

The incident was Fullerton’s third officer-involved shooting in 18 months, DeVore said. The last occurred in September, 1988, when undercover narcotics agents shot an alleged drug dealer who became violent during a drug buy.

Friday’s incident was the first officer-involved shooting reported in the county this year. Last year, 29 people were killed or wounded by officers in the county, nearly triple the number of three years ago.

The Fullerton incident started about 2:30 a.m. Friday when an AM PM Mini Market at the intersection of Raymond and Orangethorpe avenues was robbed.

A bandit held a clerk and two customers at gunpoint as he took money from the cash register, DeVore said. As the gunman fled, he fired at and missed the clerk who had set off an alarm, DeVore said.

Twenty minutes later, an officer spotted a car matching the description of the car seen at the market. It was parked outside a convenience store near Cal State Fullerton at Nutwood and Placentia avenues.

While the driver was inside buying cigarettes, the officer investigated the vehicle, returned to his patrol car and called for a backup, DeVore said.

“Before additional officers could arrive, the gunman had returned to his car and started to pull out of the parking lot,� DeVore added.

The officer flashed his red lights and the driver stopped and opened the door as if to get out. But a nearby gas station attendant, Tony Danha, saw that the man was armed and shouted a warning to the officer, DeVore said.

“I yelled as loud as I could, ‘He’s got a gun!’ � Danha said. “The officer couldn’t see the gun from where he was. . . . It was really scary.�

The officer ducked and the gunman fired two shots before he pulled out of the store’s parking lot, stopping again to fire two more bullets at the officer, DeVore said.

“The officer got his shotgun and returned fire, hitting the suspect’s vehicle,� DeVore said. “We don’t know if the suspect was hit at that time.�

The officer chased the gunman, who fled east down Placentia Avenue at speeds over 80 m.p.h. Another officer soon joined in the chase.

The pursuit ended several minutes later when the gunman hit an embankment at a point where Placentia Avenue ends, DeVore said. “Apparently, he didn’t know that road dead-ends.�

The gunman emerged from the car and appeared to be going for a gun when the officers shot him several times, the captain said.

Paramedics took the gunman to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where he is listed in critical condition.

‘We understand he is expected to survive,’ DeVore said.

Police and the Orange County district attorney’s office are investigating.