Police Wound Gang Member in Shoot-Out : Crime: Westminster officers shoot 18-year-old in the hip after he and another youth fired at their pursuers.

Police shot and wounded a member of the West Trece street gang early Sunday after he and another youth fired at officers who cornered their stolen pickup truck in a quiet residential cul-de-sac, authorities reported.

Officer Robin Kapp, a police spokesman, said Jimmy Ortega, 18, of Westminster was wounded in the hip about 5 a.m. during a brief exchange of gunfire with two officers in the 8300 block of Miami Circle.

Ortega, who was booked on suspicion of attempted murder of a police officer, was treated at Humana Hospital-Westminster and transferred to the jail ward at Western Medical Center-Anaheim.

Kapp said that shortly before the shooting, police received two 911 emergency calls from residents living near 15th and Newland streets. They complained that several male Latinos in a blue Nissan pickup were armed with handguns and had fired several shots.

Two officers, who spotted the fleeing 1986 truck, chased it for about a half-mile through a residential area. During the pursuit, one suspect was thrown from the bed of the pickup and hit the pavement.

Kapp said police found him hiding in the neighborhood a short time later. The youth, whose face, hands and chest were covered with scrapes, was taken into custody on unspecified charges. His name was not released because he is a juvenile.

Officers eventually stopped the truck in the Miami Circle cul-de-sac, and two suspects ran from the cab. As they fled, Kapp said, they fired several shots at police, who returned fire and hit Ortega. A handgun apparently belonging to one of the suspects was found at the scene.

Details about the recovered pistol were sketchy, however. Kapp said he did not know the gun’s caliber, how many shots were fired from it, or whether the weapon was Ortega’s.

According to police, the other suspect in the truck is still at large. They described him as a male Latino with a stocky build. He was wearing a baseball cap, a white shirt, and a dark jacket and pants at the time of the shooting.

Kapp identified the young men as members of the West Trece street gang, who apparently were involved in a drive-by shooting before police arrived. The Nissan pickup they were driving was reported stolen in Anaheim and matched the description of a vehicle used earlier in a robbery in another city.

As is customary in most officer-involved shootings, the Police Department and the Orange County district attorney’s office will investigate Sunday’s incident. While police will try to see if any departmental policies were violated, prosecutors must determine whether the officers broke any laws when they shot Ortega.

Police officers legally can resort to deadly force when there is an immediate danger to themselves, hostages or the general public that cannot be handled any other way.