Auto Linked to Officer’s Shooting Found

Investigators have found the sport utility vehicle they believe a gunman fled in after shooting an Anaheim police officer in the face, authorities said Wednesday.

A 1991 brown and beige Ford Explorer with Oregon plates was found Wednesday afternoon in Yorba Linda. Anaheim police would not disclose precisely where they found the vehicle, which appeared to have been burned.

Juan Carlos Alcaraz, a gang member with a previous robbery conviction, was arrested late Tuesday on suspicion of shooting patrolman Thomas “Kasey” Geary during a traffic stop early Monday on East Ball Road near the Orange Freeway. Anaheim Police Sgt. Rick Martinez said Alcaraz, 24, could be arraigned as early as Friday.

Geary, a 39-year-old Medal of Valor winner, was in fair condition at UC Irvine Medical Center but had only limited mobility in his left arm, hospital spokeswoman Kim Pine said. Neurosurgeons will try to find the cause, and Pine said the officer will probably undergo more surgery.

When officers informed Geary of the arrest Tuesday night, he nodded and smiled, said Anaheim Lt. Ray Welch, a longtime friend. Although doctors do not believe his wounds will cause permanent paralysis, Welch said, Geary is in pain and speaking is difficult.

Investigators have yet to interview the injured officer, Martinez said. Detectives also are trying to determine whether the gunman acted alone. Carlos Ortiz, a park ranger who came to Geary’s aid, said he spotted the silhouette of a second person in the passenger seat of the stopped vehicle.

Ortiz, a ranger at Long Beach’s El Dorado Park, watched the officer tail the vehicle for several blocks before it stopped shortly before 2 a.m. Monday. He became suspicious and decided to return to the scene. As he approached, Ortiz said, he saw the Explorer speed away. Ortiz called for help on Geary’s radio and tried to stop Geary’s bleeding with his shirt.

Minutes before he was shot, Geary had called in the Explorer’s license plate number to dispatchers. Police were able to trace the vehicle to someone in Orange County.

They determined that Alcaraz was a suspect after reviewing registration records, Martinez said.

“Our investigation was able to show a connection between a person tied to that car and our suspect,” Martinez said, but he declined to elaborate.

In 1995, Alcaraz pleaded guilty to a felony robbery charge after taking a bicycle from an 18-year-old man, court records show.

Alcaraz was arrested Tuesday night outside a Carl’s Jr. restaurant in Corona.