SUSPECT IS KILLED IN POLICE SHOOTOUT

Oceanside officer is shot in attempt to arrest man sought in Sunday killing

A 39-year-old man believed responsible for a fatal shooting in Vista was shot and killed early Monday when he exchanged gunfire with two Escondido police officers after a 31⁄2 hour chase, injuring one of the officers, authorities said.

The suspect killed by police was identified as Roberto Salgado, who was sought in a fatal shooting at a Vista home that occurred around 5 p.m. on Sunday, officials said.

In the Vista shooting, sheriff’s deputies went to a home on Teelin Avenue near West Indian Rock Road about 5:05 p.m., where they found an unresponsive victim in the driveway, later identified as 42year-old Florencio Rodriguez.

Sheriff’s officials said Salgado knew Rodriguez, who was married to Salgado’s ex-girlfriend’s sister.

The Sheriff ’s Department put a wanted-person bulletin out to local law enforcement after identifying Salgado and directed law enforcement to be on the lookout for his 2018 Chevy Silverado.

Shortly before 11:20 p.m. — more than six hours after the Vista shooting — an Escondido officer spotted the truck and tried to pull it over. It took off and led officers on a pursuit that lasted for hours, at times at slow speeds after three of the truck’s tires were deflated by spike strips.

A female passenger, later identified as a relative of the suspect, was also in the truck.

Police learned that the suspect’s truck was equipped with the OnStar in-vehicle security system, and officers contacted the company. OnStar remotely disabled the truck in the area of Mission Avenue and Gamble Street in Escondido around 2:50 a.m., police said.

The driver got out of the truck and exchanged gunfire with two Escondido officers. He was shot “multiple times” and was taken to a hospital, where he died, according to a statement released by the department.

One Escondido police officer, who was not identified, was shot by the suspect. He was treated at a hospital for a gunshot wound to the left side of his chest and released.

“I saw him walk out,” said Lt. Bode Berreth, a department spokesperson.

Oceanside Police Department spokesperson Jennifer Atenza said officers brought an armored vehicle called a Bearcat to assist with the stop of the suspect and the vehicle “took several rounds.”

“This was a suspect who had zero regard for any human life whatsoever,” she said, noting that there was an apartment complex near where the suspect’s vehicle finally came to a stop. “When you have a suspect firing indiscriminately, the worst fear is (he) is going to hit innocent bystanders.”