SAN DIEGO — The partner of slain SDPD officer Jonathan “J.D.” De Guzman, Wade Irwin took the stand on Tuesday in the murder trial of Jesse Michael Gomez.
In recounting the events from that day, Irwin said, "I get out of my car. I'm walking. Take a couple steps then I ask him 'Uh, Do you live in the area?' I just kind of started the beginning of my greeting. Immediately he raises his hand and shoots me in the throat."
Gomez then started walking toward the police car and firing multiple times on De Guzman, Irwin testified. Irwin said Gomez got to within one to two feet from the police car when he was shooting at De Guzman.
Later in the morning, Irwin told the court that he thought he was going to be executed on the street.
At the defendant's preliminary hearing in 2019 Wade Irwin testified that as he and De Guzman were patrolling the area, they saw two men split up and start walking along the north and south sidewalks of Acacia Grove Way. Irwin said he believed the man on the south side was someone else he had previously arrested.
After he was shot, Irwin fell into a seated position against the car. Through tears, he testified that he thought of his wife and young daughter in that moment.
"I believed at that time that if the defendant saw that I was alive, that I would be executed," Irwin testified. "I didn't want to die. I knew that if I was going survive this, I was going to have to fight to stay alive."
After De Guzman was shot, Irwin drew his gun and fired across his body at the shooter, who ran eastbound.
Gomez was taken into custody in a ravine off South 38th Street, a short distance from the scene, and was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to his upper body.
Deputy District Attorney Valerie Summers alleged in her opening statement that Gomez, who had prior run-ins with the law and was illegally carrying a firearm when he was contacted, was not going to risk going to jail again.
"He knows the consequences and he makes a decision. `Not tonight,"' Summers said.
Irwin is not the first SDPD officer to take the stand during the trial of Jesse Michael Gomez. Last week, one of the officers who attempted life-saving measures on De Guzman and who drove De Guzman to the hospital in a patrol car testified.
The officer whose camera captured the video of the chaotic scene broke down on the stand after the video was played.
One of Gomez's attorneys, Jessica Petry, said the officers did not clearly identify themselves as law enforcement upon contacting him and approached him from behind as he was walking through an area rife with gang activity.
Petry said the question Irwin posed to him, something to the effect of "Where are you from?" is a challenge and/or threat commonly made by gang members seeking rivals to target, which "almost always precedes violence" and is "a frightening lose-lose proposition" for anyone confronted with the question.
She also noted that Gomez was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time, which she said can result in enhanced paranoia and false perceptions.
"Jesse Gomez fired that gun because he thought he was going to die," Petry said.
Gomez's trial is expected to last as long as two months. Irwin's testimony was scheduled to resume Tuesday afternoon.
WATCH RELATED: Day 3 in the trial of Jesse Gomez, accused of fatally shooting SDPD officer JD DeGuzman