FULLERTON : Charges Sought in Police Shooting Case

Police will ask the district attorney’s office to file attempted murder charges today against two young car theft suspects who were wounded by a police officer Sunday when they allegedly tried to run him down.

Rudy Lionel Kelly, 20, and an unidentified 17-year-old, both of Santa Ana, originally were booked on suspicion of aggravated assault and car theft.

Meanwhile, the district attorney’s office is investigating the shooting which wounded Kelly in the wrist and the minor in the hand.

As is the case with all but two of Orange County’s municipal police departments, Fullerton’s policy is to have the district attorney investigate when anyone is shot by an officer.

“We don’t like to investigate our own shootings,” Acting Fullerton Police Chief Lee Devore said Monday.

The officer who fired the shots remained on duty Monday but will meet with the Police Department’s psychologist within 72 hours of the shooting, which also is department policy, Devore said.

Devore and an investigator for the district attorney’s office declined to release the officer’s name. But Devore said the patrolman is in his mid-30s, a six-year veteran of the Police Department and one of the department’s three canine officers.

“I spoke with (the officer) last night, and he seemed to be taking it all pretty well,” Devore said. “He’s a very good officer.”

The two suspects suffered minor injuries and were in custody Monday at Orange County Jail and Juvenile Hall after being treated for their wounds, Devore said.

In a telephone interview, the older suspect’s father, Rudolph Kelly of Santa Ana, said his son had been in trouble with authorities as a juvenile and spent some time in juvenile hall.

“But I warned him, don’t be out there in the street and get in trouble with the law,” Kelly said.

Meanwhile, police continued their separate investigation of the suspected car thieves, Police Sgt. Danny Becerra said.

Lionel Kelly is expected to be arraigned Tuesday in North Municipal Court, and the 17-year-old is facing proceedings in Juvenile Court, Becerra said.

The shooting occurred about 8:25 p.m. Sunday when officers responded to the Wilshire Promenade, a residential and commercial complex at 141 Wilshire Ave. Police had received “several calls of suspicious subjects in the area possibly attempting to steal a car,” Devore said.

A 15-year-old youth was arrested at the scene on suspicion of auto burglary, Devore said. But while still at the location, officers were notified that there were other suspicious people in the complex’s basement parking garage, he said.

The canine officer was on foot when he encountered two suspects trying to flee in a stolen car, Devore said.

The officer fired several times, Devore said, adding that the circumstances sounded to him like self-defense. The wounded suspects collided with several parked cars and were arrested.

Although both suspects were shot only in the hand, the officer was “not shooting at a foot or hand,” Devore said.

“If an officer is going to shoot, the object is to put the person out of commission and stop whatever action is taking place,” Devore said.