By Jose Quintero
Daily Press, Victorville, Calif.
HESPERIA, Calif. — A San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy who was shot Tuesday was airlifted to a local trauma center, where he had surgery and was in critical condition in the intensive care unit, according to a department social media post.
The deputy from the Hesperia Sheriff’s Station was shot in the parking lot of the Aldi shopping center in Hesperia and was in surgery as of 4 p.m., according to sheriff’s spokesperson Cindy Bachman.
The deputy responded to Bear Valley RV and Self Storage at 18435 Bear Valley Rd., adjacent to Aldi in the Mojave Plaza, just before 1 p.m. regarding an “unwanted subject,” Bachman said.
The person left the storage facility before the deputy arrived. The deputy found a vehicle in the Mojave Plaza, a shopping center across from Victor Valley College, matching the description of the person’s car, which was a “faded red vehicle,” according to Bachman.
“We are not sure exactly what happened, but the deputy was shot in the arm and the deputy likely has some other injuries from falling to the ground,” Bachman said. “There was a citizen somewhere in the shopping center that came to the deputy’s aid, got on his radio and advised dispatch there was an officer down.”
The officer was not identified.
Deputies from the sheriff’s Apple Valley station saw the suspected shooter’s vehicle going south on Apple Valley Road and followed it.
Bachman said that somewhere in the open desert near the “south end of the town” the suspect got out of his vehicle and began shooting at deputies.
The deputies fired back and the suspect was shot; he was transported to a hospital with unknown injuries. His identity was not immediately released.
Bachman said no deputies were injured in the shootout.
Later that afternoon, the Daily Press spoke to a deputy as he blocked traffic on Apple Valley Road south of Verbena Street. He said authorities were investigating the second shooting scene south of Poppy Street.
Authorities blocked off the Mojave Plaza, where there was a heavy police presence as the investigation was underway.
Multiple San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol units were in the area, and not letting cars enter or exit the shopping center, anchored by the 22,000-square-foot Aldi grocery store.
Traffic was backed near the shopping center, on the corner of Bear Valley and Mojave Fish Hatchery roads. Bear Valley Road reopened around 2 p.m.
https://twitter.com/RosaNBCLA/status/1374470822430044171
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