Authorities on Tuesday released the name of a drug suspect who was wounded during a shootout with police under a freeway bridge in Logan Heights.
Enrique Aguilar, 30, suffered at least one bullet wound when two patrolmen fired on him as he allegedly shot at them with a handgun in the 3400 block of National Avenue on Monday afternoon, according to San Diego police.
The events that led to the volley of gunfire began shortly before 3:30 p.m., when an officer tried to contact Aguilar and another man on suspicion of involvement in "illegal narcotic activity" in the 900 block of South 35th Street in Mountain View, Lt. Martha Sainz said.
When the officer got out of his patrol car, the suspects scattered, and the patrolman chased Aguilar for several blocks to the south and west.
"As the suspect ran, he pointed a handgun at the officer," the lieutenant alleged. "The officer (broadcast) the description of the suspect and his actions on his police radio."
Moments later, two other officers arrived and saw Aguilar fleeing with the gun in his hand toward a state Route 15 overpass at National Avenue, according to Sainz.
"The investigation is in its early stages, but witness statements indicate the officers yelled commands for the suspect to drop the gun," she said. "He did not comply and fired at the officers. Evidence has been recovered which confirms the witness statements. We are still trying to determine the number of shots fired by the suspect and officers."
Cellphone video of the shootout captured by a passer-by in a car recorded the sound of a fusillade of gunshots -- seemingly upward of 20 rounds - - as the suspect brandished what appeared to be a semiautomatic pistol. At least one vehicle was struck by gunfire, Sainz said.
Medics took Aguilar to a hospital, where he underwent surgery for non- life-threatening wounds. No one else was injured during the chase and shootout, according to Sainz.
Aguilar will be booked into county jail upon his release from medical care, she said.
The officers who fired on the suspect -- one of whom has been with the San Diego Police Department for 24 years, the other for two years -- had not been publicly identified as of Tuesday afternoon.
