LOCAL : 2 Santa Ana Men Shot by Police, 1 in Family Brawl, 1 After Flight

Two Santa Ana men are in critical but stable condition today after being shot by Santa Ana police in separate incidents Sunday night. Police said each had become combative when approached.

One victim, Andres Cervantes, 26, was shot in the stomach after he wrested an officer’s gun away from him during a family brawl, department spokesman Maureen Thomas said.

In that case, police responded at 8:41 p.m. to a report of a family fight in the street in the 100 block of East Myrtle Street.

“As two officers approached the fight, they were attacked by six family members without any provocation,” she said. Three fought one officer to the ground and were trying to remove his gun from his holster when the other officer, fighting three other men, saw what was happening and fired one bullet, striking Cervantes, she said.

Cervantes was treated by paramedics and taken to Western Medical Center, where he underwent surgery Sunday night.

All six men were arrested, Thomas said.

In an earlier incident, Jesse James Elizalde, 38, was shot in the arm and leg after he ran from two police officers who suspected him of speeding, Thomas said. As they tried to follow the car and stop it, Elizalde jumped out and ran to a house in the 500 block of South Franklin Street, Thomas said.

After he was chased through the house and out the back door, Elizalde grabbed a four-foot metal pipe and charged at one officer, who drew his baton, Thomas said. When Elizalde grabbed the baton and refused to drop it, the officer shot him from a distance of about two feet, she said. Elizalde was taken to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center.

Police did not release the names of the officers pending the conclusion of the investigations.