Santa Ana Officer Shot During Routine Car Stop

A Santa Ana police officer was shot in the leg Tuesday after a man he pulled over for driving with expired vehicle registration tags stepped out of his car and opened fire.

Multiple rounds pierced the windshield and door of the patrol car, striking the officer, who returned fire. It was not immediately known if the gunman was hit before fleeing the scene on foot. He was not apprehended despite an hours-long search, police said.

The officer, whose name was not released, was taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where he was treated and released less than two hours later.

Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters said the officer is lucky to be alive and that the incident underscores the dangers facing police.

“Our belief is that the officer could easily have been killed,” Walters said. “I think this illustrates that when a police officer is making a car stop, you never know what can happen. You never know what’s going on in the mind of a criminal.”

A three-year member of the force, the wounded officer is regularly assigned to patrol the area on the graveyard shift. His co-workers Tuesday said they were relieved that his wounds were not more serious.

“His leg is doing OK,” said Santa Ana Police Lt. George Saadeh. “He’s going to be fine.”

The gunman and a female passenger were riding in an older-model red BMW in the 4200 block of West Fifth Street about 6 a.m.

When the officer flashed his lights, the driver pulled into a driveway in front of an abandoned industrial building, police said. The officer pulled up behind him, and it was there that the confrontation occurred.

The passenger remained at the scene after the shooting and has cooperated with authorities, police said. She is not expected to be arrested, officials said.

In searching for the gunman, police used bloodhounds as they sealed off a square-mile area bordered by Newhope Street, Harbor Boulevard, 1st Street and Hazard Avenue.

Included in the search area was R.F. Hazard Elementary School. The gunman is believed to have run through the school grounds as he escaped. Concerned for the safety of the school’s 770 students, who had not yet arrived, class was canceled for the day, said Alan Trudell, spokesman for the Garden Grove Unified School District.

“The vast majority of the students did not come to school anyway because they were barred from leaving their residences while police combed the area for the suspect,” Trudell said. “Those students on their way to school were met by school personnel at the perimeter of the campus.”

Twenty-six students who had been bused to the school were taken to nearby Rosita Elementary School for several hours, Trudell said.

Workers at a drive-thru dairy were preparing to open their business when they noticed the red lights flashing on the patrol car. Then the shooting erupted.

“We ducked,” said worker Robert Jaques. “We were right there. How did we know the bullets weren’t coming toward us?”

Barbara Carillo, who owns the dairy, said she heard eight to 10 shots and “saw the sparks from the gun.”

Another witness, David Guererro, said an ambulance arrived quickly to take the officer to the hospital.

“They got him out of here real quick,” Guererro said. “We could see windows broken [in the patrol cars] and holes on the side of the door. It happened so fast.”