1 Ambusher Gave Aid to Wounded Simi Officer

Moments after a group of young men jumped, shot and handcuffed a Simi Valley policeman at a high school Wednesday night, one of the assailants returned to apologize and free the officer’s arm so he could radio for help, officials said Thursday.

Reserve Officer Richard Todd, 26, was shot twice with his own gun at point-blank range after he followed a suspicious-looking man to an athletic field at Simi Valley High School and was ambushed by four or five men, Lt. Rick TerBroch said.

Todd, a Simi Valley resident, was listed in satisfactory condition Thursday night at Simi Valley Adventist Hospital with a hand wound, a hospital spokeswoman said. The bulletproof vest he was wearing deflected bullets that were fired at his abdomen, police said.

As of Thursday evening, police said there were no suspects in custody. Detectives from the Simi Valley Police Department and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department recovered the officer’s service revolver and other unspecified evidence from the campus, TerBroch said.

Attacked From Behind

The incident began at 9:02 p.m. Wednesday, when Todd became suspicious of a man he spotted in a school parking lot and radioed the station that he was going to investigate, police said.

Todd followed the man to a baseball field on the southwest edge of the campus, where a group of men, who were apparently waiting for the officer, attacked him from behind and threw him to the ground, TerBroch said.

After removing Todd’s revolver from its holster, they fired an unspecified number of shots at the officer, handcuffed him to a baseball backstop and fled.

Shortly thereafter, one suspect returned briefly, police said. He apologized for his actions, freed Todd’s arm and handed him his police radio to call for help before fleeing again, according to TerBroch.

Police said they cordoned off an area around the school and used police dogs and a helicopter to search for suspects until 1 a.m.

Ambush Not Ruled Out

No motive has been established for the shooting. But police have not ruled out that the shooting was a planned ambush, TerBroch said.

According to principal Dave Ellis, the school, situated in an upper-middle-class community, is not known as a nighttime hang-out for teen-agers. Ellis said that adult education classes were in session when the shooting occurred.

The incident is the first shooting of an officer in the 14-year history of the city’s independent police force.

Todd, a one-year veteran of the Simi Valley Police Department, worked a minimum of eight hours a month as a reserve officer.

In Simi Valley, reserve officers are trained at an academy sponsored by Ventura city police and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.