Participants In Non-Injury Mission Valley Police Shooting Identified

SAN DIEGO, CA — Authorities Monday publicly identified a parolee and a San Diego Police Department officer who got into a confrontation during which the lawman opened fire with his service gun near the San Diego River in Mission Valley, causing no injuries.

Officer Johnathan Penuelas, a three-year member of the department, fired his gun at about 9:45 a.m. Tuesday while chasing 44-year-old Judah Starr McBreairty on foot through a brushy area off the 4800 block of Pacific Highway, just north of Interstate 8 and a short distance east of Interstate 5, according to the SDPD.

Officials have yet to reveal further details about the circumstances that led to the shooting.

Following the harmless gunfire, McBreairty continued fleeing and managed to elude officers, said Lt. Aloha Peters of the San Diego County Sheriff's Office, which investigates shootings involving SDPD personnel through terms of a regional agreement intended to prevent conflicts of interest.

Police searched for McBreairty, the subject of an outstanding arrest warrant, through the rest of the morning and into the evening hours before finally tracking him down in the riverbed area and taking him into custody with help from a service dog.

After being treated for injuries he suffered when officers sicced the canine on him, McBreairty was booked into San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of violating terms of his parole.

— City News Service