By Tanya Mannes
Union Tribune Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A man driving a stolen sheriff’s squad car from Los Angeles County was shot by police yesterday in the San Diego community of Nestor after reaching for a shotgun inside the cruiser, authorities said.
The shooting happened shortly after 9 a.m. on Interstate 5 near Palm Avenue.
Regino Aguilar, 26, was taken under guard to a local hospital with injuries described as not life-threatening, San Diego police Lt. Kevin Rooney said. Aguilar was facing arrest on suspicion of auto theft, felony evading arrest and assault.
Aguilar is accused of stealing a parked, black-and-white patrol car about 7 a.m. on Compton Avenue in south Los Angeles County, a Los Angeles sheriff’s spokesman said.
Shortly after 8:30 a.m., someone called police to report seeing the vehicle at a gas station in Leucadia. All local officers were alerted because the stolen car was equipped with ammunition and a shotgun, Rooney said.
Shortly before 9 a.m., another caller saw the patrol car parked in a lot on Palm Avenue in Otay Mesa, just west of Interstate 805.
The California Highway Patrol responded to the call and an officer pulled up next to the stolen car. The driver jumped back inside and sped off, Rooney said.
The man led officers in four police cars – two from San Diego police and two from the CHP – on a chase that ended when he pulled over on the southbound side of the Interstate 5 median.
The man first opened the door and stepped outside the car. He got back into the patrol car and began tugging at the shotgun secured between the front seats, and two officers fired at him, Rooney said.
The San Diego police officer who opened fire has been with the department for 2½ years, Rooney said. The CHP officer who opened fire has been with the agency for 9½ years.
Copyright 2007 Union-Tribune