Suspect Killed in Shoot-Out With Officer : 2nd Man Sought in Huntington Beach Incident; Vest Saves Policeman

Authorities searched unsuccessfully Sunday for a robbery suspect who escaped after a shoot-out in which a Huntington Beach police officer killed a second suspect and was himself saved by a bulletproof vest.

The shoot-out occurred shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday when Police Sgt. Ed Deuel, responding to a silent burglar alarm, confronted two robbery suspects at the Things for Your Head shop near Main Street in Huntington Beach, Sgt. Darrell Klopp said Sunday.

Deuel held the two men inside the shop and radioed for assistance. Then, from a distance of less than 20 feet, one of the suspects reportedly opened fire with a .45-caliber machine gun. But the gun jammed after firing a single round, said Sgt. J. B. Hume, an officer with the Police Department’s search and rescue team.

Deuel returned fire and fatally wounded the man. Deuel and the second suspect then exchanged shots, and the man fled on foot. He is believed to have used a sawed-off shotgun.

Minor Injuries

Deuel, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, suffered only minor injuries. He was treated at Pacifica Community Hospital and “went home with an ice pack,” Klopp said. “He was really lucky.”

Police immediately began an intensive search for the suspect. The northbound lanes of Pacific Coast Highway were closed for several blocks for much of the night, and traffic in both directions was diverted for a while, Hume said. The highway was reopened about 7:30 a.m., he said.

Anticipating extra-heavy traffic Sunday, police “hustled to reopen it,” Hume said. Usually heavy weekend beach traffic was worsened by motorists using Pacific Coast Highway to get to the Long Beach Grand Prix, he said.

Police from Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Newport Beach and Seal Beach handled traffic and high-priority calls in Huntington Beach for much of the remainder of the night while all available officers from that city concentrated on the search for the escaped suspect, Klopp said.

No Identification

Sgt. Michael Relic, the detective in charge of the investigation, said the dead man, about 30 to 35 years old, carried no identification. He had several tattoos on his back, arms and chest, a spokeswoman said. He was pronounced dead shortly before midnight at Fountain Valley Community Hospital Trauma Center.

Although a volley of shots passed between Deuel and the second suspect, police do not believe the escaped man is wounded, Relic said. Police said the suspect may have discarded the shotgun.

Search-and-rescue officers and Explorer Scouts scoured an 18-square-block area Sunday morning searching for the weapon. Firefighters from the city also searched rooftops for the weapon.

Police described the suspect as between 5 feet 8 and 6 feet, with shoulder-length hair, a thick, dark mustache and possible tattoos on his left forearm. He reportedly was wearing blue jeans and a red shirt.

In addition to the Huntington Beach Police Department, the Orange County district attorney’s office will investigate the incident, a routine procedure whenever an officer is involved in a shooting.