Suspect Held in Shooting of Policeman : Crime: El Monte officer answering routine call on forgery attempt was apparently taken by surprise.

An El Monte police officer remained in critical condition Tuesday after a routine call to investigate a forgery attempt at a bank ended with the suspect shooting him in the neck.

Donald Johnston, 35, a second-year officer, was taken to County-USC Medical Center after the lunch-hour attack Monday at an El Monte branch of Security Pacific National Bank.

About an hour after the shooting, police arrested Nguyen Lu, 27, at his sister’s home in Temple City. Nguyen, who is unemployed, was being held in Los Angeles County Jail without bail. He is expected to be arraigned today on an attempted murder charge.

“What’s so shocking is that this was not the type of call where you would expect a violent confrontation,” said El Monte Sgt. Craig Sperry, adding that it was the first shooting of a police officer in that city in more than 15 years.

“Officer Johnston didn’t even have his gun drawn,” Sperry said. “You generally wouldn’t on a call of this nature.”

Johnston arrived at the bank, near the corner of Valley Mall and Ramona Boulevard, about 12:30 p.m. Monday, after bank officers reported that someone was trying to cash a $1,000 check on a closed account.

As Johnston stepped through the first of two glass doors at the entrance, the suspect opened the second door, police said. They met in the vestibule.

Before Johnston could react, Nguyen calmly pointed a 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol at the officer, fired once, and walked out of the bank, officers said.

“There was no exchange,” said Sperry. “He just fired at the officer, stepped over his body and walked out.”

It wasn’t hard for police to find him. Nguyen had left his driver’s license on the bank counter. Witnesses had also jotted down the license number of his white Toyota, which was traced to his sister’s Temple City address.

Nguyen surrendered without incident, police said. The pistol that officers believe was used in the attack was in the car.

Relatives at the neat, one-story home on La Rosa Drive were reluctant to discuss the incident, although they did say that Nguyen is a Vietnamese refugee who came to the United States about 10 years ago.

Police said that Johnston is married and has one child. His father, Loren Johnston, retired from the El Monte Police Department in 1987 after more than 18 years on the force.