Suspect Slain, Officer Shot in Canyon Gun Battle

A suspected car thief was shot and killed and a Los Alamitos police officer was seriously wounded Tuesday night in a shoot-out in rural Santiago Canyon, authorities said.

Early reports were sketchy, but the shooting apparently occurred when two plainclothes Los Alamitos police officers, accompanied by two Orange County sheriff’s deputies, went to a small ranch off Santiago Canyon Road to recover some stolen property.

Shooting broke out shortly after 8:30 p.m. and within minutes an officer was down and a suspect had been shot and killed, authorities said.

The dead man, who was airlifted by a Marine Corps helicopter, was not immediately identified and it was not clear who shot him. Officials at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana said the man appeared to be between 40 and 50 years of age and had chest wounds.

The wounded Los Alamitos officer, Reed Gloshen, was airlifted to UCI Medical Center in Orange, suffering from at least one gunshot wound to the chest. Another Los Alamitos officer at the hospital described Gloshen’s condition as serious but said it appeared that he was in no danger of dying.

According to Sgt. Duane Swearingen, a Los Alamitos police spokesman, Gloshen and a second unidentified detective were investigating reports that a stolen car had been spotted near a trailer located off Santiago Canyon Road in Orange County’s eastern foothills. The area is sparsely populated.

Before driving to the area, the Los Alamitos officers requested and received backup from two uniformed Orange County deputies who were patrolling in the area. The cars converged on the trailer shortly before 8:30 p.m., and shooting broke out minutes later.

Steve Shaffer, who lives in area, said the shooting took place about a quarter of a mile south of the intersection of Silverado Canyon and Santiago Canyon roads. He said it appeared the incident occurred on Seminole Ranch, where exotic game hens are raised, near a trailer rented out by the owners.

Shaffer said an employee at Seminole Ranch told him Tuesday evening that “there have been cars parked here that were recently painted.”

Law enforcement officials said Gloshen was hit in the chest by at least eight pellets from a single shotgun blast and was also wounded in the neck and upper arm.

Staff writers Steve Emmons, Jerry Hicks, Louis Sahagun and Bob Schwartz contributed to this article.