El Cajon Officer on Leave After Shooting

An El Cajon police detective was automatically placed on paid leave Wednesday, pending an investigation into his shooting of a 21-year-old Mexican national.

Bill Bradberry, a 6 1/2-year police veteran, shot the man, identified as Jose Martinez Vera, in the chest Tuesday after Martinez ran from the scene of a drug sweep in Wells Park, said Lt. Bob Lein. Martinez, an undocumented immigrant, brandished a knife when he was confronted in a field by Bradberry, two uniformed officers and a citizen, Lein said.

After he was shot, Martinez stabbed both officers, Lein said, but was subdued and taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital. Nursing supervisor Pauline Renner said he remained in critical but stable condition after surgery Tuesday and was awake but unable to speak because of a breathing apparatus.

Still Seeking Identity

Officer John Taitano, who received a 2-inch-deep stab wound in his upper back, and Officer Tom Buhl, who received a superficial cut on his hand, were treated and released Tuesday and were back on duty the next day, Lein said.

Lein said Martinez will be charged with three counts of assaulting a police officer, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of resisting arrest.

Five Others Arrested

Five other men were arrested in the drug sweep:

Cabillo Antonio Guzman, 19, a laborer and transient, was booked on suspicion of selling marijuana; Juaio Hernandez Carranza, 24, a laborer and transient, was also booked on suspicion of selling marijuana; John Allen Thomas, 24, an unemployed man living in the 200 block of North Mollison Avenue, was given a citation for marijuana possession and released, and Antonio Acho Martinez, 24, and an unnamed juvenile were booked on alcohol charges and turned over to the U. S. Border Patrol.

Several men besides the one involved in the shooting ran from the park during the arrests, Lein said.

He said the man Bradberry shot was known to administrators of El Cajon Valley High School, through which he ran on the way to the field in the 1000 block of East Main Street.

“The most likely reason he ran is because he had involved himself with the narcotics transactions,” Lein said. But no drug charges are expected, he said, adding that the police have not “definitively determined” whether or not the suspect was seen using, dealing or buying drugs.