The auto-theft suspect that shot and wounded a San Diego Police Department (SDPD) officer this week in a Chollas Creek-area neighborhood remains unidentified and at large, SDPD Chief David Nisleit said June 9.
“You need to surrender,” Nisleit spoke in front of cameras to the fugitive shooter at the briefing at downtown SDPD headquarters. “We are not going to stop searching for you until we take you into custody.”
The chief said the assailant should be considered armed and dangerous.
“This is a person that shot a police officer,” he said. “And if he’s willing to shoot a police officer, I guarantee he’s willing to shoot somebody else.”
The officer, whose name has been withheld, suffered a gunshot wound to the arm on June 8 when the suspect opened fire on him in the area of Ogden Street and Shiloh Road, according to police. He is recovering from his non-life-threatening injuries, the police chief said.
“I’m very pleased to announce that the officer has been released from the hospital [and] is at home resting with his family,” Nisleit told reporters during the briefing.
The officer was recruited by the SDPD in July 2021 and has been on active duty for about six months.
The events that led to the shooting began shortly after 11 a.m. when the officer spotted a stolen car being driven in the 5300 block of University Avenue and started following it.
A short time later, the suspected car thief pulled over, got out of the vehicle, and ran off. During a brief foot chase, the fleeing man turned and fired on the officer, discharging several rounds, before disappearing into the neighborhood, police said.
For the remainder of the day, SDPD officers, including a SWAT team, and personnel from other local law enforcement agencies carried out an “exhaustive” search for the gunman, described as a bald-headed Latino who appeared to be in his 30s, Nisleit said.
The intensive efforts to identify and locate the shooter and get him into custody were “very much ongoing as we speak,” the police chief told reporters at the briefing.
“This is a seven-24-type of investigation right now,” the chief said.
To identify the shooter, detectives were looking for surveillance camera videos in residential or commercial areas and trying to find any associates of his or witnesses who could help.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that there are people out there in our community [who] know who this suspect is and know where [he] is currently,” Nisleit said. “So I’m asking you to come forward.”
