Officers took the suspect to the hospital after he was found bleeding in the Chollas Creek ravine near the scene of a gunfight in Southcrest that left Filipino American police officer Jonathan “JD” De Guzman dead, and his partner, Wade Irwin, wounded.
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Jesse Gomez was charged with murder and attempted murder on Tuesday at a hospital as he recovered from wounds sustained in the gunbattle with police.
Jonathan De Guzman, a San Diego police officer who survived a stabbing 13 years ago and shot at a gun-wielding man three years ago, will be buried Friday after being fatally shot in the driver’s seat of his patrol vehicle after his partner approached a man on the street.
Prosecutors say the two officers pulled up to Gomez, who was on foot, and Irwin got out of the patrol vehicle to ask if he lived in the area.
Gomez, 52, allegedly shot Irwin and opened the passenger door, firing several times into the patrol auto and killing De Guzman. DeGuzman was shot four times and killed.
BONITA, Calif. (AP) – The first of two memorial services will be held Thursday for a San Diego police officer who was fatally shot during a traffic stop.
Police officers from as far away as New York City, Chicago, Fort Worth, Texas, and Aurora, Colorado, attended the 90-minute Mass at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Bonita, where the slain officer, 43-year-old Jonathan De Guzman, worshipped with his family.
Irwin, who remains hospitalized, is expected to fully recover.
Gomez could face the death penalty, but prosecutors have not decided whether to seek it. Gomez fled but was eventually found in a nearby ravine by police.
Gomez’s family members maintain his innocence and told the San Diego Tribune they have received little information from law enforcement.
A possible second suspect arrested on a warrant out of Anaheim has posted bail, but Runyon, Dumanis and Zimmerman declined to specify whether Cassani was the man who had split from the suspect before the shooting unfolded. He has a criminal record stretching back to 1983, including a conviction for auto theft and drunken driving. Gomez was injured during the shooting.
The service will be proceeded by a procession of police officers beginning at Qualcomm Stadium at 9 a.m. Pacific, reports The San Diego Union-Tribune.
“I know he’s been in trouble, like when I was a baby, but after that nothing”, Daniel Gomez told the newspaper.
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Among the speakers at De Guzman’s service will be California Attorney General Kamala Harris, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, SDPD Chief Shelley Zimmerman as well as Officer De Guzman’s mother and his children, according to a program. De Guzman was a 43-year-old husband and father of two. Both ceremonies are open to the public.
