Santa Ana : 2 Men Critically Hurt by Officers’ Gunshots

Two men were in critical but stable condition Monday after they were shot by Santa Ana police officers in separate incidents Sunday night. Police said both men had become combative when approached by officers.

One man, identified as Andres Cervantes, 26, was shot in the stomach after he apparently wrested an officer’s gun away during a family brawl, Santa Ana police spokesman Maureen Thomas said.

In that incident, police responded at 8:41 p.m. to a report of a family fight in the street in the 100 block of East Myrtle Street, Thomas said.

“As two officers approached the fight, they were attacked by six family members without any provocation,” she said. Three family members fought one officer to the ground and were trying to remove his gun from his holster when the other officer, who was fighting three other men, saw what was happening and fired one bullet striking Cervantes, she said.

“The suspect who was shot had been successful in removing the officer’s weapon and was holding it in his hand,” she said.

Cervantes was treated by paramedics and taken to United Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where he underwent surgery Sunday night. All six men in the fracas were arrested, Thomas said.

In an earlier incident, Jesse James Elizalde, 38, was shot in the arm and leg after he ran from two police officers who suspected him of speeding, Thomas said. The officers were patrolling the 1900 block of West Myrtle Street at 6:05 p.m. when they saw his car speed up the street.

As they tried to follow the car and stop it, Elizalde jumped out and ran to the front door of a house in the 500 block of South Franklin Street, Thomas said.

“One officer ran out and approached him. A scuffle started. The front door suddenly opened, and it appeared as if the officer was pulled inside the house. The second officer, fearing for the other officer, ran into the residence, heard yelling coming from the rear of the house,” Thomas said.

As the officer approached, Elizalde was combative and charged at him several times, Thomas said.

Elizalde fled out the rear of the house, followed by an officer. The suspect then grabbed a four-foot metal pipe and charged at the officer, who drew a club, Thomas said. When the suspect grabbed the officer’s club and refused to drop it, the officer shot him from a distance of about two feet, she said.

Elizalde was taken to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center.

The names of both officers were withheld pending further investigation.