Cypress : Officers Shoot Suspect in Restaurant Break-In

A Huntington Beach man in a ski mask and fatigue jacket, who apparently had been waiting inside a fast-food restaurant before it opened Sunday, was wounded by police officers who were summoned when the manager suspected that someone was in the building.

Cypress Police Capt. Daryl Wicker said the manager of the Taco Bell in the 5500 block of Ball Road called police at 7:45 a.m., immediately after arriving for work. The manager, whose name was not released, reported that a vent in the roof had been removed and said she suspected that someone had crawled inside the building through the opening.

“She did exactly the right thing,” Cypress Police Lt. John Schaefer said.

Officers entered the restaurant and encountered a man later identified as Scott Allen, 24, at the rear of the building. Wicker said the suspect, who was wearing a ski mask, pointed a small-caliber pistol at the officers and one of the officers fired twice, hitting Allen once in the right shoulder.

Although wounded, Allen did not surrender, however, and held officers at bay for more than an hour. He finally gave himself up when the officers brought in a police dog and told him they would send the dog after him, Schaefer said.

The suspect was taken to Memorial Medical Center of Long Beach, where he was reported in stable condition Sunday.

Wicker said Allen would be booked on suspicion of burglary.

Police said investigators for the Orange County district attorney’s office were conducting a simultaneous investigation into the incident, which is routine in all officer-involved shootings.