Man Shot After Struggle With Officer

A 30-year-old robbery suspect was critically wounded Friday after he pulled a gun on a patrol officer and the two became locked in battle for control of the weapon, authorities said.

Investigators said that Enrique Vidal Lovato--a repeat felon facing possible life imprisonment under California’s “three-strikes” law--ripped the officer’s uniform and tore off the badge during the struggle, which ended with the officer breaking away and opening fire on the suspected robber with his own gun.

Santa Ana police officials declined to name the officer involved, but sources close to the investigation identified him as Tony Duran, a veteran cop and former U.S. Marine who has been with the department for 25 years. Duran was not harmed and has been placed on paid administrative leave.

Lovato received two gunshot wounds, to the head and leg, and was on life support at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana. The Santa Ana man has several prior felony convictions, including a 1987 conviction for brandishing a gun at another police officer, court records show.

Friday’s shooting occurred about 8 a.m. when the officer was on patrol and recognized the suspect from a recent departmental bulletin issued after a residential robbery, police said. The officer approached Lovato at Bishop and Sycamore streets, asked for identification and began questioning the suspect, Police Lt. Bob Helton said.

As they talked, Helton said, the suspect drew a semi-automatic handgun.

“At that point, the officer grabbed the gun, fighting and wrestling with the suspect for control of the gun,” Helton said. “If you don’t maintain control of it, you’re going to get shot.”

During the struggle, the officer took out his radio and called for help but realized that he only had one hand left to battle a 175-pound man who is about 5-foot-11. “So he just threw the radio away,” Helton said.

By the time the officer broke away from the suspect, his uniform was ripped and his badge and radio were lying on the street behind his patrol car.

Helton said the officer then either backed up or ran to the other side of the street, then pulled out his own weapon and shot at the suspect five to seven times.

The incident unfolded “very quickly” and investigators still are trying to sort out details, he said. A gun, believed to be the suspect’s weapon, was recovered on the sidewalk where the fight erupted, but investigators have not determined whether it had been fired, Helton said.

“One witness thought [he or she] heard one shot fired by the suspect, but we can’t confirm that,” Helton said.

Rosa Lozano, who lives nearby, said she heard screaming and several gunshots, then looked outside her window to see a man lying on the ground.

One bullet fired by the officer apparently struck the wall of her house while her children were inside but caused no injury, Lozano and police said.

The officer was described by police as being very experienced and has patrolled the central Santa Ana area for many years. Helton said he knows of no other police shootings involving the officer.

Police sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity described Duran as a dedicated career street cop and an athlete who enjoys long-distance running.

The patrol officer had recognized the suspect from a department bulletin that described Lovato as armed and likely to resist arrest with violence. The handout included a black-and-white photo of Lovato, who is suspected in connection with a residential robbery May 23 in the 400 block of Birch Street, several blocks from Friday’s shooting.

Lovato, who has used the alias Enrique Gonzales, has several felony convictions, including exhibiting a firearm to resist arrest in 1987, court records show. Lovato was convicted of waving a gun at an officer while fleeing from a burglary in Torrance in that case, the records show.

In July 1993, Lovato was arrested by Garden Grove police on burglary charges for breaking into a Pep Boys store and a Kmart, felonies that led to a four-year prison sentence, records show. He also was convicted of burglary in 1989, records indicate.

Lovato was twice convicted of cocaine possession, in 1991 and 1994, preceded by a 1986 conviction of sale and transportation of a controlled substance in Long Beach, records show.

Police described him as a likely candidate for prosecution under the state’s “three-strikes” law, which now mandates lengthy prison terms for repeat felons.