Authorities Seek Man Who Shot Deputy

Authorities conducted an intensive search Saturday for a gunman who wounded a sheriff’s deputy in a rural area of Vista.

The deputy, James Bennetts, 27, was listed in good condition at Palomar Memorial Hospital in Escondido after surgery on his left shoulder, a hospital spokesman said.

The suspect, identified as Mark Raymond Phelps, 28, has residences in Oceanside and Vista and is wanted by police on an outstanding felony warrant for assault with a deadly weapon, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

Sgt. Rick Figueroa, who is heading the investigation, said a second man is being sought for questioning in connection with the shooting. He was identified as Michael John Russell and is believed to be in his 20s.

Bennetts, a four-year Sheriff’s Department veteran and a resident of Escondido, began following Phelps’ red Chevrolet Corvette about 6 p.m. Friday. He had been briefed earlier in the day that Phelps was being sought on the outstanding warrant, Figueroa said.

After notifying a dispatcher that he was following Phelps, Bennetts followed the suspect onto Bautista Avenue. When Bennetts turned on his flashing lights, Phelps sped up and then brought his sports car to an abrupt stop, jumped out and opened fire on Bennetts’ patrol car with an automatic weapon, Figueroa said.

He said that after a spray of automatic gunfire that peppered the front of Bennetts’ car with about 20 bullets, the deputy radioed for assistance, got out of the car and attempted to take cover behind it. It was at that time that Bennetts was wounded, Figueroa said.

It remained unclear Saturday whether Bennetts was able to return fire against his assailants, Figueroa said.

The two assailants then fled into the neighborhood, and the Sheriff’s Department’s tactical unit swept through about a half-mile-square area “to make sure no one had been taken hostage and there were no unoccupied houses where he could have hidden,” Figueroa said.

The deputies came up empty-handed and the search was called off about 1 a.m. “after it was clear the suspects were not within our perimeter,” he said.

Residents at nine homes were evacuated during the search, and one unoccupied home was rushed by deputies who tossed a “flash-bang” grenade as a sheriff’s helicopter hovered low overhead.

Figueroa declined Saturday to discuss reports initially released by the Sheriff’s Department that the two suspects were being investigated by authorities for illicit drug operations.

But sheriff’s Lt. Jim Hartshorn told the Associated Press that, responding to neighbors’ complaints of gunshots and debris at Phelps’ house, Vista city officials in January ordered monthly inspections of the residence by the Sheriff’s Department. Methamphetamine has been found inside the residence twice, but Phelps was not arrested because deputies lacked the necessary search warrants, he reported.

Phelps was described as a Caucasian, 6-foot-4 and 185 pounds, with blue eyes, curly blond hair, a mustache and a scar on his chin.