San Diego

Two San Diego police officers were justified in shooting into a pickup truck they were chasing last August after a truck passenger fired “a continuous volley” of bullets at the officers, the district attorney’s office said Wednesday.

In clearing officers Raymond Stachnik, on the force seven years, and James Stevens, a 10-year veteran, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Pent said the officers were acting in self-defense when they wounded Douglas Elmo Canon in a several-block chase that ended when the truck hit another car.

Canon suffered a gunshot wound to his right hand. The truck’s driver, Robert Delong, was not injured. Police decided to pull Delong and Canon over when they noticed that the truck had a broken left taillight.

The truck raced off and Canon fired shots at the officers, Pent said. Investigators found about 30 bullet holes in Delong’s truck.

“There is no doubt in my mind that he was trying to kill us,” Stachnik told investigators. “At first, it was like he was peppering, or shooting fast, then it seemed later on that he was taking more aim. I could see rounds passing by us literally from the headlights.”