Police Evacuate Headquarters After Bomb Found in Suspect’s Property

San Diego police shot and wounded a man in a fierce gun battle early Thursday morning, and, after taking a box of weapons from the man’s house to police headquarters, found a live pipe bomb and immediately ordered the partial evacuation of the building.

The bomb was safely removed by experts from the Fire Department’s explosive-device team, and none of the 200 police employees evacuated from the top three floors of the headquarters building was injured.

Melvin King Jr. was shot once in the abdomen during the 1:30 a.m. gunfight, in which he allegedly fired six rounds at three police officers, who, wielding rifles and service revolvers, returned 15 shots.

Under Police Guard

King, 28, was taken to Mercy Hospital, where he was listed in serious condition Thursday evening in the intensive care unit. He was under police guard on suspicion of attempted murder.

Police said Officers Dan Santiago and Constantine Markes were patrolling in East San Diego when they saw King waving a gun while standing on the curb near 54th Street and Chollas Parkway. Without warning, he fired a .22-caliber revolver at the patrol car, and the officers turned around and confronted him as he tried to hide behind a telephone pole, police said.

Officer Steven Woodrow joined the other policemen, and more shots were fired between the officers and King, until he was struck once after he bolted from behind the pole.

Police spokesman Dave Cohen said it was unclear which of the three officers actually hit King.

“It was a through-and-through shot, so we may never know for sure which officer shot him,” Cohen said. “There was no projectile to be found.”

Shortly before 6 a.m., more police officers searched the man’s home in the 3200 block of 54th Street. Recovered there were a .30-caliber revolver, a .45-caliber revolver and a World War II-vintage ammunition box.

Stopped What He Was Doing

The metal box was taken by police technician Gary Dorsett to the sixth-floor lab at police headquarters at 14th Street and Broadway. About 9:30 a.m., Dorsett began to inventory the contents. He said he found a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol with shells and then a pipe-and-wire device on the bottom of the box.

“I stopped what I was doing because it looked like something that could have been activated,” Dorsett said. “I had enough sense to stop what I was doing and let everyone know what I’d found.”

Police spokesman Bill Robinson said Fire Department bomb experts were notified, and the fifth, sixth and seventh floors of the headquarters building, including those that house the offices of the chief and his top command, were evacuated.

About 200 police employees waited outside while the bomb squad retrieved the device, which officials said consisted of two small pipes connected with wires, clamps and a fuse.

Gayle Bates, a hazard-device technician for the Fire Department’s explosive device team, said the apparatus was crudely put together, but could have been detonated by simply lighting the fuse.

“It was actually a live device,” Bates said. “We took it out to Fiesta Island and disarmed it. It could have been lit and functioned and blown up. And it probably had a killing distance of 100 feet or so.”