SAN DIEGO (AP) A man immediately opened fire on a San Diego police officer who walked up to him on a dark residential street last week to ask if he lived nearby, then shot into a patrol auto, hitting the officer’s partner with five bullets as he sat wearing a seat belt, prosecutors said.
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Runyon said the injured officer saw the shooter walk to the open passenger door of the police auto and fire at De Guzman, who was still in the driver’s seat with his seat belt on. His gang-unit partner, Officer Wade Irwin, 32, also was seriously injured but was able to return fire and is expected to recover.
Jonathan De Guzman was shot five times at close range while in the driver’s seat of his patrol auto July 28.
Investigators have reviewed body camera footage, though they said at Tuesday’s news conference that Irwin’s camera was not turned on until after he was shot. His partner, Wade Irwin, 32, was shot in the throat but is expected to recover. DeGuzman was hit four times and was killed.
Gomez “answered with gunfire”, Runyon said Tuesday, striking Irwin in the throat.
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.
DeGuzman, 43, died after being rushed to a hospital. He was charged with murder, attempted murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Authorities said a third man, considered a witness, was being sought. The construction worker has a criminal record stretching back to 1983, including a conviction for auto theft and drunken driving.
Gomez’s family members maintain his innocence and told the San Diego Tribune they have received little information from law enforcement.
Prosecutors said he used a cane to seize a vehicle from another driver. San Diego SWAT surrounded the house of one individual Friday morning thought to be linked to the shooting, but that person was later cleared.
“The DeGuzman family appreciates the efforts of the media to share the life and heroism of their son, husband and father but requests all media remain outside while the funeral Mass is performed, ” according to a statement from the San Diego Police Officers Association. He said the elder Gomez is a good father to his three sons and a dedicated grandfather to his 9-year-old granddaughter. “I know he’s been in trouble, like when I was a baby, but after that nothing”.
The ex-con who allegedly opened fire on them, 52-year-old Jesse Michael Gomez, was critically wounded in the shootout and remains hospitalized.
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Law enforcement from San Diego and across the nation are mourning together this week during several memorial services for slain San Diego police Officer Jonathan “JD” DeGuzman.
