1 dead in shootout between police and drug traffickers at Chula Vista shopping center
A meeting between members of a law enforcement task force and suspected drug traffickers turned violent at a shopping center in Chula Vista on Tuesday, leaving one man dead.
A group of suspects fled after the shooting. Four were later taken into custody. Authorities were still searching for one or two men who sped off in a red vehicle.
Federal officials said members of Operation Alliance had set up a meeting with about half a dozen men at the shopping center near Mount Miguel and Proctor Valley roads. The task force — comprised of members of state, local and federal law enforcement agencies — targets mid- to high-level drug traffickers.
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An altercation broke out about 2 p.m. during the encounter and a senior Homeland Security Investigations agent shot one of the men several times in the parking lot of the Shops at San Miguel Ranch.
“One of the suspects became violent and forced our agent to take offensive action to defend himself, to defend his life,” said Mike Carney, acting special agent in charge of the federal agency.
The wounded man was taken to a hospital, where he died. The agent also was taken to a hospital to be evaluated. He was unharmed.
Carney wouldn’t detail how the shooting unfolded. He also wouldn’t say if members of the task force, who were in plain clothes, were undercover at the time.
Immediately after the shooting, the rest of the men at the meeting fled. Some left in vehicles, and at least one of them was seen walking into the shopping center.
One of the getaway vehicles, a white car, crashed a short distance away. Two men who were inside ran but were arrested a few blocks away, near Lane Avenue and Boswell Road.
At some point, a third suspect was taken into custody. Authorities did not disclose information about the arrest, but a condominium complex off Mackenzie Creek Road, just south of the shopping center, was cordoned off in police tape.
A fourth suspect was arrested after being discovered in the trunk of a car that was parked in the strip mall parking lot, officials said said
Chula Vista police officers went door to door through each business in the shopping center after the shooting. Employees emerged with their hands in the air.
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