Police Shoot Man in Crystal Cathedral Lot
A man was shot in the parking lot of Garden Grove’s Crystal Cathedral on Thursday by an Anaheim police officer looking for someone else, authorities said.
The man, whose name was not released, was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange in serious condition with a bullet wound to the stomach.
According to Sgt. Rick Martinez, a spokesman for the Anaheim Police Department, the incident occurred about 5:45 p.m. after six members of the department’s gang detail lost track of someone during a surveillance operation.
Martinez said one of the officers ended up in the church’s south parking lot, where he encountered the man he shot.
A witness said she heard the officer yelling at someone to “back off!” but could provide no further details, Martinez said.
The shooting was not part of the surveillance operation, Martinez said.
He said authorities don’t know whether the victim was armed.
The incident remains under investigation.
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