Gunman Seriously Wounds Officer

Police were hunting Saturday night for an Irvine teenager who allegedly shot and critically wounded a California Highway Patrol officer before speeding off in the patrol car, authorities said.

Anaheim police and CHP officers were searching for Phu Duc Nguyen, 18, in a section of Anaheim near where the cruiser was found abandoned about an hour after the shooting near Cal State Fullerton, according to a CHP dispatcher. Two men were taken into custody late Saturday in Anaheim, but authorities would not identify them.

“We’re working the area” near Lincoln Avenue and Euclid Street, said the dispatcher.

Police radio broadcasts indicated that the officer’s service pistol was missing.

As many as half a dozen gunshots were heard about 8:45 p.m. next to a Coco’s restaurant near the Nutwood Avenue entrance to the Orange Freeway in Fullerton, witnesses said. Fullerton police said at least one shot struck the 26-year-old officer in the head and neck.

“He has extensive damage to head and neck,” said Sgt. Glenn Deveney.

“It sounded like someone was banging on the window or hammering a hammer,” said Kristi Vertican, a waitress at the restaurant.

A restaurant manager who asked not to be named said the shooting occurred after the officer apparently stopped the suspect in a parking lot next door.

The officer, who was not identified, was said to be in extremely critical condition at UC Irvine Medical Center.

The suspect frustrated early attempts to catch him by heading north on the Orange Freeway, and then apparently reversing direction before turning onto the Santa Ana Freeway in Anaheim.

Nguyen was described as 5-foot-10, 175 pounds, with black hair and wearing a white T-shirt and black pants.