Sheriff’s Trainee Killed After Holdup; 2 Sought

An off-duty San Diego County Sheriff’s Department trainee was shot and killed Monday night when she was confronted on a Spring Valley street by two men suspected of robbing a nearby grocery store.

San Diego County Coroner’s Deputy Ev Mauger identified the victim as Kelley Ann Bazer, 28, a trainee who began courses at the Sheriff’s Department academy Jan. 3. Bazer, who was wearing her trainee’s uniform, was shot once, Mauger said.

Two young men--one black, the other Latino or black--were being sought late Monday night in a rugged foothill area of Bonita.

The men are also believed to have robbed the Safeway at 8702 St. George Street in Spring Valley, across the street from the shooting site.

According to a witness’s account, Bazer drove up to a house at Safford Avenue and St. George Street in Spring Valley about 7:30 p.m. and was approached by two young men. The men shouted at her, and she got out of her car and began to run across the street.

According to Mike Foxhoven, who lives across the street and witnessed the shooting, the men chased Bazer briefly, and one of them shot her once. Bazer collapsed on Foxhoven’s front lawn, and the men grabbed her car keys and ran back to her car.

Foxhoven said he ran to his house and told his wife to call police, then returned to his yard to help the wounded woman.

Foxhoven said he saw the men drive south on Safford Street.

Bazer’s sedan was found abandoned a few blocks south of the shooting site.

An abandoned pickup truck was recovered by sheriff’s deputies on Proctor Valley Road half a mile south of San Miguel Road in Bonita. A pistol and money believed to have been taken from the Safeway were also found in the truck.

Officers from the Border Patrol, Sheriff’s Department and the Chula Vista, National City and San Diego police departments were searching a three-square-mile area near where the truck was found.

Times staff writers Peter J. Zacchino and Glenn F. Bunting contributed to this report.