Wounded suspect IDd in S.F. police shootout

A man hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after police say he critically wounded a San Francisco police officer during a shootout was identified Saturday as a 32-year-old Hayward resident.

Police named Sesar Valadez as the suspect in an officer-involved shooting on Halloween night in the Castro. Valadez remained under police custody at a hospital Saturday. He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, resisting arrest, driving a stolen vehicle and a number of weapons violations.

The violations include being a felon in possession of a firearm, possessing a firearm with obliterated serial numbers, and discharging a firearm in a negligent manner, authorities said.

The wounded officer was not officially named but has been identified by police as a 41-year-old man, crime scene investigator and nine-year veteran of the department. He was listed in critical but stable condition after surgery, police said Saturday.

Emergency dispatch recordings indicate the officer was shot in the stomach and the hand.

Officers on foot patrol in the Castro neighborhood on Halloween were investigating a report of a suspicious car near 18th and Diamond streets at 12:03 a.m. Wednesday when the shooting occurred, according to police. Officials have released few details on what happened.

As officers approached the car to investigate, the suspect and at least one officer exchanged gunfire, authorities said. Dispatch recordings indicate that a man was locked inside the car and refused police orders to come out, but it’s unclear what followed. Police later determined the car, a gray Chrysler sedan, was stolen.

Within less than 10 minutes, a taxi was reported carjacked at Diamond and Market streets, less than 300 feet away. Police were investigating whether it was related to the shooting.

A man in his 20s and two women, whose ages were not known, flagged a taxi in the area. The man pulled a gun, ordered the cabdriver out of the sport utility vehicle, and sped off. The stolen vehicle, operated by Super Cab, was later found abandoned on Oakwood Street, police said.

One of the female suspects wore a black-andwhite skull mask that was later found by police, according to dispatch recordings. The three suspects remain at large.

The Castro, once known for major street parties on Halloween, scaled back on the festivities after nine people were injured in shootings there in 2006. Those incidents and others led authorities to shut down the neighborhood’s official street party in 2009.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno