Two San Diego police officers were shot Thursday night, authorities said.
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The United States has been on edge for weeks following shootings of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Police have released the name of a suspect in the San Diego police shootings that left Officer Jonathan ‘J.B.; DeGuzman (left) dead and his partner Officer Wade Irwin (right) wounded following a traffic stop.
“We are still searching the area for other possible suspects”, authorities said early Friday.
Zimmerman said police were investigating whether Cassani, who has a criminal record that includes drug, weapons and burglary convictions, had any role in the police shootings.
Officers Kepner said targeted violence towards police keeps him on the look out for potential threats while patrolling.
Police arrested one suspect and detained another man who may be involved.
Both officers were shot several times in the chest, and one officer died at the hospital.
“It is extremely hard but something you have to do”, Zimmerman said.
Officer Kepner who has more than eight years on the force says he has one goal while he’s on patrol.
The mortally wounded officer suffered multiple bullet wounds and was taken in another officer’s vehicle to Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest, where he later died despite the “heroic efforts” by police and doctors to save his life, according to the chief.
Faulconer called for support of law enforcement officers nationwide.
Irwin is now awake at UCSD Medical Center, where he is expected to make a full recovery, Zimmerman added.
Police swarmed the neighborhood where the shootout happened and quickly captured 52-year-old Jesse Gomez in a nearby ravine, Zimmerman said.
Numbers from the San Diego Police Department show between January 2013 and July 2015, the numbers of assaults on officers increased. In August of 2003, DeGuzman was awarded the Purple Heart after he was stabbed during a routine traffic stop. The decade’s highest total came in 2011, with 73 officers shot dead.
Nearly immediately afterward, they called for emergency backup, Zimmerman said. SDPD surrounded the building and spent hours trying to coax the suspect to surrender, but when officers finally went inside, they discovered that the suspect had escaped.
The injured officer, shot in the upper torso, underwent surgery at a hospital and is expected to survive, the police department tweeted Friday morning.
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No other details are immediately available.
