Pair Captured After Gunshots Fired at Officer

Orange police Tuesday seized two men who earlier had fled on foot after firing shots at a police officer who had tried to detain them for a traffic violation.

The two were apprehended at 11:45 a.m. as they tried to creep through a backyard near the intersection of Meats Avenue and Santiago Boulevard, police spokesman Bob Gustafson said.

Roadblocks were set up in the northern portion of the city at 6:45 a.m. after the two suspects eluded one police officer who had tried to stop them for running a red light at the intersection of Brentford Avenue and Sacramento Street, Gustafson said.

During the chase, Gustafson said, one of the suspects fired three rounds at the officer, whose name was not released.

The suspects--identified as John Tracy Peters, 24, and Michael Anthony Skillicorn, 18, both of Orange--then fled on foot, abandoning a Toyota they allegedly had stolen earlier from an automobile dealer in Orange, Gustafson said.

No weapon was recovered, but in the car, police found a computer reported stolen from a real estate firm in Orange, he added.

Peters and Skillicorn were booked into Orange County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder of a police officer, car theft and burglary, the latter in connection with the computer found in the car.