Victim of Harbor Shooting Says Police Have Questioned Account

A deputy harbor master who earlier this month reported that he was wounded during an ambush by three mysterious assailants said Tuesday that he has been questioned by police about apparent inconsistencies in his account of the incident.

David Shapiro, 59, returned to work Monday, less than three weeks after the March 5 incident.

Shapiro was hit four times--all by bullets fired from a .25-caliber handgun. He took at least one direct hit to the center of his chest, striking the breastplate of his bulletproof vest and leaving a large bruise.

The Ventura Police Department, U.S. Coast Guard and Ventura County Sheriff’s Department launched an all-out search for the suspects that night but found no sign of the alleged attackers.

After three weeks of extensive investigation, Ventura Police Department officials said Tuesday that they have not been able to locate any witnesses.

Department officials would not confirm that they questioned Shapiro about inconsistencies in his account, only stating that the investigation is continuing and that they had two detectives on the case, said Det. Gary McCaskill.

“We are still investigating all aspects of the event,” McCaskill said.

Shapiro said police investigators returned to him a few days after the incident to “clear up some inconsistencies.”

“I made a couple of mistakes in what I had said,” Shapiro said Tuesday. “You got to understand I had been up for almost 30 hours and had just got back from the hospital.”

Shapiro said he thought that the police questioning may also have been prompted by the disclosure that he had been involved in a similar incident in December 1976 in Farmington, Mich.

According to a newspaper account of the incident from the Farmington Forum weekly newspaper, Shapiro was shot four times by two men who were trying to rob a store where he worked.

Shapiro told police that he was jumped by the two men about 12:30 a.m., just after locking up the business, Tom’s Party Store.

“Two masked assailants approached him from behind, put a gun to his back and ordered him to ‘put your hands up,’ ” the newspaper account said. “A struggle immediately ensued and the subject carrying the gun shot Shapiro four times. Two shots struck the victim in the left hand and two in the right side.”

Shapiro confirmed that account Tuesday, except to say that he had been shot twice, not four times.

And he said the Ventura police had questioned him about that incident. No arrests were made in that case.

“Apparently they don’t like coincidences,” he said.

Shapiro, who said he has worked in law enforcement for more than 20 years, said he also was recognized for heroism while working as a jail guard for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department in Phoenix.

In November 1986, Shapiro said, he foiled an escape attempt from the County Jail.

“Again I think they thought it was a coincidence,” Shapiro said, referring to investigators’ reactions when they learned about the incident in Arizona. He said he was awarded a medal for bravery and heroism for foiling the escape.

Maricopa County officials could not confirm that account.

Shapiro worked for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department until February 1987, and then moved to a job at the Santa Barbara County Jail, where he worked until February 1991.

He has worked for the Ventura Harbor District since leaving Santa Barbara, and is scheduled to retire at the end of the month, although he said he plans to continue working part time for the district.

The eight deputy harbor masters at the harbor are sworn peace officers, but they do not carry guns and receive only the most basic police training. The deputies are armed only with pepper spray, officials said.

Most of the deputies’ work consists of enforcing boating regulations and aiding water rescues.

Officials at the Ventura Harbor District said the shooting was highly unusual. The worst trouble deputies had seen in the past 17 years were shoving matches with people who had drunk too much liquor, they said.

The deputies all have bulletproof vests that were hand-me-downs from the Ventura Police Department.

Shapiro said he does not always wear his bulletproof vest.

But he added: “I’ve generally worn a vest . . . at night when I was alone on patrol.”