A San Diego man has been charged with murder and attempted murder in the shootings of two San Diego police officers.
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Jesse Gomez, a construction worker with a criminal record stretching back to 1983, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of murder and attempted murder from the hospital room where he is recovering from wounds he suffered in a gunbattle with police. DeGuzman and wounding his partner during a traffic stop in Southcrest last week was ordered Wednesday to remain in custody on $5 million bail.
DeGuzman, a 16-year SDPD veteran, and Officer Wade Irwin, who’s been a San Diego officer for nine years, were on patrol on Acacia Grove Way when they spotted two men – one of them was Gomez – walking along a sidewalk, Deputy District Attorney Michael Runyon said.
Establishing a timeline of the events was crucial for investigators who said that though Irwin was wearing a body camera at the time of the shooting, it was not turned on until after he was down.
He said Gomez then proceeded to shoot at De Guzman, striking the veteran police officer with five bullets as he sat in the squad auto. Gomez, 52, is accused of shooting Irwin and then opening the passenger door and firing several times into the auto, killing DeGuzman.
The San Diego Police Officers Association is collecting donations on its website to help the fallen officer’s family pay for the funeral and other expenses.
Defendant Jesse Gomez is wheeled in on a chair at UCSD Medical Center where he is under doctors care and will have to have his court arraignment in San Diego, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016.
Gomez was found in a ravine shortly after the shootings when officers followed a trail of blood, authorities said.
A second man was arrested Friday on an unrelated search warrant, but he has been released, authorities said.
Police have yet to determine a motive. The San Diego County district attorney found the shooting was justified. His partner, 32-year-old Wade Irwin, was shot in the throat but is expected to recover.
Real estate broker Leonard A. Marquez wrote in a 2002 letter to a judge that Gomez had worked for him for eight years. DeGuzman leaves a wife and two young children.
Gomez’s son, Daniel Gomez, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that he believes his father is innocent.
“I know he’s been in trouble, like when I was a baby, but after that nothing”, Daniel Gomez told the newspaper.
In 2013, DeGuzman was one of five officers who shot and killed a man who was wanted for a violent attack on his father and raised a shotgun at officers in suburban Escondido.
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A memorial service is slated for Friday at Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon.
