COSTA MESA : Police Still Reticent on Fatal Shootout

Four days after a gun battle on busy Harbor Boulevard left one officer wounded and a 20-year-old man fatally shot, police remained tight-lipped about the incident.

Capt. Tom Lazar generally responded to questions about the shootout, which occurred just south of the San Diego Freeway, with “no comment.” He declined to reveal the number of shots fired in the fusillade that killed Jamie Michael Rubio of Huntington Beach and injured Bob Nishimura, 25, a three-year veteran of the Costa Mesa Police Department.

Lazar also declined to say whether Nishimura’s wound was caused by shots fired by a fellow officer, rather than by Rubio, as police have reported.

Police have not gone beyond the sketchy information they released Monday, two days after the incident. Rubio, who had been staying at a local motel, was reportedly a suspect in a credit card fraud and drug case.

After he left the motel and went to an International House of Pancakes restaurant on Harbor Boulevard, an officer approached him outside the restaurant about 7:30 p.m. Moments later, special enforcement officers joined them.

After a short conversation, Rubio allegedly drew a handgun and started firing at officers. Two officers fired back and Rubio was hit in the chest and back. He was dead on arrival at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

Nishimura, struck in the lower back and spine, also suffered internal injuries. His condition was listed as stable, Lazar said. The district attorney’s office and Costa Mesa police are continuing to investigate.