2 Police Officers Shot During San Diego Traffic Stop: 1 Killed; 1 Wounded

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A San Diego police gang unit officer was killed and a second was wounded in a shooting during a traffic stop in the Southcrest neighborhood, authorities said today.

The events that led up to the shooting late Thursday night were not immediately detailed. San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said that shortly after the two announced they were making a stop, they requested
"emergency cover" from other officers. Responding officers found both with gunshot wounds to their upper bodies.

"The investigation is ongoing right now as to exactly what happened," Zimmerman told reporters at an early morning briefing. "We don't have enough information at this point."

Both officers were taken to a hospital, where one later died. Zimmerman said she and other chief officers notified his wife, two children and extended family members of his death.

The second officer underwent surgery and is expected to survive, according to San Diego police. His wife was with him at the hospital.

Neither officer's name was immediately released. Zimmerman described both of them as "heroic."

A suspect, who was also wounded by gunfire, was taken into custody in a ravine area in the 1300 block of South 38th Street and was hospitalized, Zimmerman said. It was not immediately clear if the shooter acted alone.

Residents of the 3800 block of Boston Avenue were told to shelter in place as officers continued to search the area for a possible second suspect.

The shooting in Southcrest comes less than two weeks after a man with ties to San Diego fatally ambushed officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, killing three and wounding three others. Officers in Dallas were also targeted by a gunman earlier this month.

On Aug. 6, 2011, a 36-year-old San Diego police officer who had just bought a meal for a child was fatally shot by a suicidal man who pulled up alongside his cruiser on University Avenue at 45th Street. Officer Jeremy
Henwood, a four-year police department veteran and Marine reservist, died in a hospital early the next day.

Henwood was the second San Diego police officer killed on the job within 10 months. On Oct. 28, 2010, Officer Chris Wilson, 50, was shot to death during a probation raid at a Skyline-area apartment complex.

--City News Service