One police officer is dead and another is injured after they were shot in San Diego, July 28, 2016. They arrived shortly on scene and found both of our officers suffering from gunshot wounds.
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The injured officer, shot in the upper torso, underwent surgery at a hospital and is expected to survive, the police department tweeted Friday morning.
In a press conference Friday, Zimmerman pointed to recent data released by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund that found a 78 percent uptick in the number of firearms related police deaths, calling the figure “tragic”.
San Diego Police SWAT officers walk around to the back side of a house with a possible suspect inside Friday, July 29, 2016 in San Diego.
It was unclear whether the standoff was related to the shootout with the officers.
A San Diego policeman who survived a shooting that killed his partner is from Salinas.
His partner, 16-year veteran Jonathan DeGuzman, was killed.
A second suspect was hospitalized in critical condition after being wounded in the incident.
Authorities around the USA remain on high alert following the murders of five police officers in Dallas and three in Baton Rouge, La., earlier this month.
There was no immediate word on what touched off the shooting, which occurred around 11 p.m. PDT in the southeastern part of the city.
The officers reported they were making a stop and nearly immediately called for help.
“We’re talking very, very quickly”.
Zimmerman later said they were still trying to determine whether it was a vehicle stop or a pedestrian stop.
White House spokesman Eric Schultz said he did not know if President Barack Obama had been briefed yet on the shooting said Obama has long urged respect for law enforcement who risk their lives to protect the public. He died in a hospital early the next day.
“I was able to at that time tell his wife that he was going to be OK and, as I was driving over there that night, I knew I was going to have to make the notification that he was not going to be OK, he was not coming home, and nothing prepares you for that”, Zimmerman said. “And to have this happen to our police officers – we have seen this happen way too many times just in these last few weeks across our great country”.
Police located one suspect, Jesse Michael Gomez. Police gave no further information about Gomez or his role in the shootout except to say he was a suspect.
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A second man was arrested on a warrant near the shooting scene, but the chief says investigators haven’t yet determined if he was involved. A helicopter hovered over the neighborhood. They shouted on a bullhorn for the man to think about his family and surrender.
