Woman Shot in Leg; Suspect Booked

A man was arrested Monday on suspicion of attempted murder when he headed back to a Tustin motel where a shooting had happened just 15 minutes before.

“I’m not aware of what his motivation was for coming back,” Sgt. Jeff Beeler, a spokesman for the Tustin Police Department, said of the early morning arrest of Michael Simpson, 46, while he was apparently on his way to the Bel Air Motel.

“He had a room at the Bel Air,” Beeler said. “It’s possible he thought everything was hunky-dory and was heading back home. Maybe he’s an optimistic guy.”

Police had been alerted about 4:15 a.m. by a 20-year-old Anaheim woman who said she had been shot at the motel but had managed to escape her attacker. On their arrival, officers found the woman bleeding from a gunshot wound to the left calf.

The woman, who was later treated at a local hospital and released, gave investigators a detailed description of her assailant. Police spotted Simpson, who matched the description, a few minutes later driving back to the area.

“Apparently, he knew of her,” Beeler said. “There was apparently some kind of business relationship between him and her.”

Simpson, who was pulled over and arrested without incident, was booked at Orange County Jail on a charge of attempted murder. The shooting is still under investigation, Beeler said.