Theft Suspect Shot by Officer in Chase

A 24-year-old man who allegedly robbed two West San Fernando Valley fast-food restaurants was shot and seriously wounded by a Los Angeles police officer after a late-night freeway chase, police reported Saturday.

Gene Bryan Jr. was listed in serious but stable condition at Northridge Hospital Medical Center after undergoing surgery for a gunshot wound to the abdomen, according to a press release issued by Los Angeles police Lt. Charles Higbie.

Bryan’s alleged accomplice, David Enriquez, 24, was not injured in the incident Friday night. Both men were being held on suspicion of robbery.

The shooting, by officer Douglas D. Gerst, a nine-year veteran, is being investigated by the department’s officer-involved shooting team.

Events Described

Higbie gave this account:

Two male adults, simulating weapons, stole an undisclosed amount of money from the Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers at 20800 Devonshire St., Chatsworth, at about 11 p.m. Friday and took a wallet from the restaurant manager. Witnesses reported that the suspects left the scene in a white pickup truck.

Fifteen minutes later, two men, also simulating weapons, took an undisclosed amount of money from the Jack-In-The-Box restaurant at 22664 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, and fled in a white pickup truck. Witnesses reported the vehicle’s license number to police, who broadcast it to all Valley patrol cars.

Officers Gerst and Kenneth C. Robinson, who has been with the department four years, spotted the suspects’ vehicle about 11:30 p.m. and gave chase. In the course of fleeing police, the suspects’ vehicle ran into several small traffic signs on the eastbound Ventura Freeway.

Truck Stops

The truck stopped on the freeway near the Ventura Boulevard on-ramp and the two suspects attempted to flee the scene.

One suspect, later identified as Enriquez, fell and was taken into custody by Robinson without incident. Bryan fled down a freeway embankment and was pursued by Gerst into the rear parking lot of a post office at 22121 Clarendon St. Gerst, believing the suspect was armed, shot Bryan as he attempted to climb over a wall.

A search of the suspects’ vehicle produced money and other evidence. Police did not disclose how much money was taken.