Suspect Killed, Officer Hurt in Shooting

SANTA ANA —  A suspect was killed and an officer was wounded at the end of a 6 1/2-hour standoff that started when the man fired at police and then barricaded himself inside his bathroom.

The 32-year-old suspect from Santa Ana was dead on arrival at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana just before midnight Saturday. A male officer was shot in the upper shoulder and a police dog was also struck.

Lt. Dave Petko said it appears the suspect shot the officer inside the home before the SWAT team opened fire on the man.

The wounded officer’s condition was not immediately known Saturday.

Police initially had been called to the home in the 2600 block of West Saint Andrew Place about 4:50 p.m. by a neighbor complaining of loud music. When an officer asked the man to turn it down, he became angry and fired a handgun, Petko said.

The officer was not struck, and was able to get other family members out of the house, Petko said. At the time of the shooting, nobody else was in the house besides police.

“The initial call was for loud music,” Petko said. “That’s why the officer went down there in broad daylight by himself.”

About 20 SWAT officers surrounded the house at one point and tried to establish contact with the man--who spoke only Spanish--by phone. At one point, they lobbed 12 canisters of tear gas into the house, but the man did not immediately surrender. Police evacuated residents from nearby homes.

Police had also planned to throw a “flash-bang” device, which generates smoke and a deafening noise, into the home to stun the man before going in after him.

About 11:15 p.m, police rushed into the house and two shots were fired but nobody was hit. Then more shots were fired and Santa Ana police reported that an officer had been shot in the arm and called for an ambulance.

“They were in there for 15 or 20 minutes when there was some kind of ruckus,” Petko said.

Authorities were not releasing the man’s name Saturday, but said he had outstanding warrants for a kidnapping and other “domestic problems.”