A reckless driving suspect got out of a dark-colored SUV not with license and registration but a handgun, leading to a Huntington Beach officer taking out the fellow identified Sunday as Daniel Walsh, 27, of Surf City.
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This went down around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, when cops responded to a call about a sports utility vehicle running people off the road near Gothard Street and Ellis Avenue, Huntington Beach Police Lt. Kent Ferrin told City News Service.
Officers who tried to intercept the SUV as it was heading south on Gothard from Ellis saw the driver become involved in a minor traffic crash at Ernest Drive and Stewart Street before he stopped and got out of the SUV wielding a handgun, Ferrin added.
As the driver walked up to a driveway of a residence, he was ordered to stop and drop the weapon, but he instead turned toward the officer while still holding the firearm, and that's when the unidentified officer fired multiple times. The cop would go on to perform first aid on the gunman until paramedics arrived and took him to UC Irvine Medical Center, said Ferrin, who added a gun was recovered at the scene.
Walsh was pronounced dead at the Orange medical center at 6:25 p.m. Saturday,
The Orange County Sheriff's Department is investigating the shooting, and a statement from that agency over the weekend informs, “We are not identifying the … involved officer at this time and have no information as to the motive regarding the suspect's actions.” Indeed, investigators are looking for information and asks anyone who has it to call OCSD homicide detectives at 714.647.7055.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.