Hospital Releases Officer Who Survived Shooting

Patrol officer Diane Hall, 40, who was wearing a bulletproof vest when shot, was released from Mercy Hospital Monday afternoon in good condition, after surviving wounds in the chest and abdomen, a hospital spokeswoman said.

“Because she was wearing the bulletproof vest, she suffered only powder burns, as well as bruising and abrasion where the bullets hit the jacket,” the spokeswoman added. “She’s very fortunate to have been wearing that vest.”

Police said Hall was shot by Jimmie Ray Reeves Jr., 23, who was shot and killed by police as he tried to escape.

Hall and another officer had been dispatched to 30th Street and Central Avenue in East San Diego at 8:54 p.m. Sunday to investigate the report of a burglary in progress, said Lt. Dan Berglund, who heads the homicide division of the San Diego Police Department.

Berglund said the “ballistic vest” worn by Hall, a five-year veteran of the force, saved her life.

Sgt. Jim Clear, a spokesman for the department, said Monday that bulletproof vests were optional when first introduced in 1980 but were made mandatory a year later.

In Sunday’s incident, the first officer on the scene, Ed Rosenbloom, checked the exterior of the residence and noticed a screen had been taken from the rear of the house, Berglund’s report says. Rosenbloom then walked to the front yard just as the two-officer cover unit--Hall and partner Cheryl Dean--were arriving.

The three officers walked to the back yard and heard a noise, which came from a man who appeared to be hiding in a cardboard box beneath a tree, Berglund said. As one officer attempted to make contact, the man ran away. When he was finally apprehended, he struggled with the three officers, Berglund added.

Reeves then pulled Rosenbloom’s gun from his holster and began firing, striking Hall in the chest and abdomen and on the handle of her gun, Berglund said. Reeves continued firing until the officers wrestled the weapon away, he added.

When the man then attempted to flee, all three officers fired their weapons, killing him, Berglund’s report says. Reeves died of “multiple gunshot wounds,” a spokesman for the San Diego County medical examiner said Monday.

Reeves, described by the spokesman as an unemployed transient, was dead at the scene.

Besides Hall’s injuries, Rosenbloom injured his hand, thumb and back. Officer Dean escaped injury.