Santa Ana Police Identify Man Hit in Year’s First Shooting by Officer : Crime: He was wounded in stomach after allegedly reaching for a concealed pistol. Another officer was shot at the day before.

Police on Tuesday released the identity of a Tustin man wounded by a police officer during a chase in which the suspect allegedly reached for a pistol tucked in his waistband.

Victor Peleaz, 22, was shot once in the stomach in the 2:45 p.m. incident Monday by an unidentified police officer.

It was the first shooting by a Santa Ana police officer this year and came a day after another officer was slightly injured by flying glass in a drive-by rifle attack.

Peleaz was listed in stable condition at UCI Medical Center in Orange, police spokeswoman Maureen Haacker said. He was recovering Tuesday from surgery for the bullet wound to his stomach.

Haacker said that two officers responded to the 900 block of West Highland Street after residents called to report a man with a handgun.

“He was not accosting anybody,” Haacker said. “It was just that somebody had seen him with a gun.”

Peleaz was wounded after he led two police officers on a foot chase that ended when one officer grabbed his shirt, spinning him around. Peleaz then reportedly grabbed for a chrome-plated pistol in his pants. One of the officers, apparently fearing for his life, shot once at Peleaz, hitting him in the abdomen.

The officers were put on a three-day administrative leave and were expected to return to regular duty pending an investigation by the Orange County district attorney’s office, Haacker said. Peleaz is expected to face a charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

The shooting occurred less than 24 hours after an unknown gunman opened fire on a patrol car on a Santa Ana street.

Shots rang out as Officer Robert Romero arrived at the 2200 block of West 9th Street at 10:50 p.m. Sunday to investigate a report of a man with a gun.

As Romero drove slowly northbound along English Street, at least four shots were fired from a passing car heading southbound, Haacker said. Romero ducked just as the shots were fired, narrowly evading a bullet that flew through the windshield and lodged in the driver’s seat headrest.

One bullet destroyed one of the squad car’s headlights, another punctured a tire and a third shattered the windshield. Romero suffered cuts from the broken glass, Haacker said.

The occupants of the passing car abandoned the vehicle--later determined to be stolen--a short time later and ran away. They were still at large Tuesday, Haacker said.

A .30-caliber rifle was found, and police believe it was the weapon used in the attack, Haacker said.