A San Diego policeman who survived a shooting that killed his partner is awake, but investigators have yet to interview him.
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Two San Diego police officers were shot – one fatally – after a late-night stop turned into a gunfight, triggering a manhunt that led to the capture of one wounded suspect in a ravine and an hours-long SWAT standoff Friday that ended after officers detained a second man who may have been involved.
The suspected shooter was critically wounded in the Thursday night confrontation in a southeastern neighborhood.
“We are here to announce the arrest of Jesse Michael Gomez, date of birth 12/19/63, for the murder of our San Diego Police Officer Jonathan DeGuzman and the attempt murder of Officer Wade Irwin”.
Though the exact details surrounding the shooting are still unknown, Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman confirmed during a press conference that the two officers were conducting a traffic stop when they were met with an onslaught of bullets.
She says investigators have reviewed video from police body camera footage. However, she didn’t elaborate.
Police have given no further information about Gomez or a man they describe as a second “potential suspect”, Marcus Cassani, who was arrested Friday on an unrelated warrant after a massive search that included SWAT officers swarming around two San Diego houses.
The chain of events started about 11 p.m. Thursday when DeGuzman and Wade Irwin, 32, stopped someone in a southeastern neighborhood, although it wasn’t immediately clear whether the gang officers stopped a pedestrian or a auto, police said. “Seconds to a minute or so”, Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said. The 43-year-old died at Scripps Mercy Hospital after doctors’ efforts to save him failed. Zimmerman reiterated that Irwin was expected to fully recover, and Faulconer said the nine-year veteran of the force “looked good, all things considered”.
Zimmerman, who worked with DeGuzman before she was elevated to chief in 2014, said she informed DeGuzman’s wife 13 years ago that he survived the stabbing.
She said: ‘I can tell you he is a loving, caring husband, father. Talked about his family all the time’. “He cared. He came to work every single day wanting to just make a positive difference in the lives of our community and that’s why he lost his life”. DeGuzman received the department’s purple heart for valor in that traffic stop. Checks made payable to the organization, with “Officer Jonathan DeGuzman” in the memo line, can be sent to the SDPOA’s offices at 8388 Vickers St., San Diego, CA 92111.
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“Violence against the men and women who wear the badge is violence against us all”, the statement read.
