POLICE ID DRIVER, HARBOR OFFICER INVOLVED IN SHOOTOUT NEAR CONVENTION CENTER

Police on Thursday publicly identified the driver and Harbor police officer who exchanged gunfire Monday night outside the San Diego Convention Center.

Neither man was wounded, but a bystander was struck by a stray round, police said. The bystander was not wounded thanks to a glasses case in his back pocket that apparently blocked the bullet.

Police said Daniel Quiroz, 29, opened fire on Officer Cody Horn from the Port of San Diego Harbor Police Department during a traffic stop. Horn returned fire, “and the two engaged in a gunbattle for a few seconds,” San Diego police homicide Capt. Rich Freedman said.

Video from a FOX5 reporter who was in the area recording a news segment suggested there were at least 12 shots fired in three volleys.

Jail records showed Quiroz was booked into the San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of two counts of attempted murder and a felony count of obstructing or resisting an officer. He was being held Thursday without bail. The shootout erupted a little after 7 p.m. in front of the Convention Center on Harbor Drive, near Fifth Avenue, Freedman said. Horn, who has been with Harbor police a little more than three years, made the traffic stop after seeing a Honda Accord run a red light.

Police said Horn made contact with Quiroz and suspected he was driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs, so the officer ordered Quiroz out of the car. As Quiroz was getting out of the car, Horn saw him reaching for a gun, Freedman said.

“Probably the worst nightmare to have somebody basically just walk out of the car and start firing at you,” Freedman said Monday night.

Horn backed up to get to a safer position behind his vehicle, and at some point Quiroz came out with his hands up, “but still was not complying with the officer’s orders to surrender,” Freedman said. Other officers arrived to help take Quiroz into custody.

The bystander called 911 a short time later to report being struck by a stray round, Freedman said. Medics took him to a hospital for a precautionary evaluation. He was released soon afterward, and Freedman said the item in his pocket likely “prevented the round from actually penetrating his body.”

San Diego homicide Lt. Andra Brown said Thursday that investigators had not yet determined if the round that hit the bystander was fired by Horn or Quiroz.

Though the shooting involved a Harbor police officer, San Diego Police Department’s homicide unit is investigating, as it does for all shootings in the city that involve law enforcement. Freedman said Monday that Horn’s body-worn camera was recording during the shooting. Footage from that camera was not released Thursday.