SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — San Diego Police on Tuesday released the names of the man killed and three people arrested after an officer-involved shooting in Talmadge last week.
Police added that firearms recovered from the scene were all "ghost guns." Last April, SDPD Chief David Nisleit said the city has seen a 169% increase in the use of the unserialized firearms.
SDPD said on Friday, July 23, just before 9 p.m., officers received a call of a possible shooting in the 5900 block of University Avenue. The caller said a man had been shot and was running away, according to the department. Police arrived to find a 29-year-old man a block away from the area who had been shot several times. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he underwent surgery and was last listed in stable condition.
Witnesses at the scene gave officers a description of the vehicle seen during the shooting, and a police helicopter overhead was able to locate a vehicle matching the description, police said. Officers tried to stop the vehicle near 54th Street and El Cajon Boulevard, but one suspect fled from the vehicle, SDPD added.
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Officers saw the suspect had a gun in his hand and called out for the man to drop the weapon, according to the department, but he refused.
Eventually, police said the man was confronted behind a fast-food restaurant and an officer-involved shooting occurred. Two officers discharged their service weapons and the man was shot at least once.
He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He has been identified as 22-year-old Jesus Salvador Valeta.
Police took three other suspects who remained in the vehicle into custody, identified as Cesar Wojcik Ramirez, 20; Zachariah Villalva, 22; and Angelo D’Shaun Shaw, 23.
SDPD said that officers recovered three firearms in total and all were unserialized polymer pistols, or "ghost guns." The suspects involved in the shooting were also involved in another shooting that same day just after 5 p.m. near Belmont Park, police added.
The two officers involved in the shooting were identified as Gregory Bergman and Anthony Guerra, both have been with the department for about one year and are assigned to the Mid-City Division.
The department said it has started the investigation and review process for the shooting and the SDPD Homicide Unit, Internal Affairs, Shooting Review Board, San Diego County District Attorney's Office, and the city's Commission on Police Practices will all be a part of the investigation. The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office will also monitor the process.
If anyone has any information regarding the shooting or events leading up to it, they are asked to call SDPD's Homicide Unit at 619-531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
