Illegal Alien Wounded by Off-Duty CHP Officer

An off-duty California Highway Patrol officer shot and wounded an illegal alien Tuesday night after the man made a motion as if he were reaching for a gun, a CHP spokesman said.

Two officers, William Carvalho, 31, and Andrea Stokes, 23, were leaving a home in the 200 block of Wilshire Road at about 8:50 p.m. when they encountered two men approaching the house, authorities said.

Carvalho informed the men that they were trespassing and asked them to leave and an argument ensued, said Jerry Bohrer, a CHP spokesman. One man then dropped into a crouch and reached behind his back as if to draw a weapon, Bohrer said, so Carvalho drew his off-duty gun, a small-caliber automatic, and shot him in the leg. It then was found that the man was not armed.

The victim, identified as Oscar Corquera, 35, of Acapulco, was taken to Tri-City Hospital in Oceanside where he underwent surgery. Corquera’s companion, Antonio Medrano Rosales, 30, also of Acapulco, was turned over to U.S. immigration officers and will be held until the investigation of the shooting is completed, Bohrer said.

“To all indications, the shooting was justified” and Rosales corroborated the officers’ statements about the incident, Bohrer said.

Oceanside police, called in to investigate the shooting, reported the incident as “a case of trespassing” and released the two officers without charges.