SAN BERNARDINO >> An officer responding to a report of a man with a gun Saturday evening shot and wounded a suspect during a pursuit. The suspect was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive, police said.
About 6:06 p.m. a woman called police, saying a man in the 400 block of North Meridian Avenue had a gun, according to police Sgt. Gerald Beall.
When a K-9 officer arrived in the far Westside neighborhood, he saw three men loitering, one with a gun, police said.
The three men took off running, and the officer gave chase, without his police dog.
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Three hours after the shooting, outside police headquarters, Lt. Rich Lawhead said the officer chased the man who matched the description of the man with the gun.
The foot pursuit weaved southeast, through yards and over walls. Just west of a motel on Foothill Boulevard, an officer providing backup shot the suspect, striking him three times, Lawhead said.
The man, who hasn’t been identified, fell on the northern sidewalk, below an electric pole and between the motel property and an open field.
He was hospitalized in stable condition, according to police.
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The suspect possessed a chrome, semi-automatic handgun and 10 to 12 small rocks, which police believe to be cocaine, Lawhead said.
A dozen people in the area said they heard three consecutive gunshots.
Tasha Berry and Trenton Jones said they were at the motel when the shooting happened. They said the man was on the sidewalk, heading east, when an officer in an unmarked car pulled to the curb and shot the man.
“He reached his hand out the window and shot him three times,” Berry said.
Lawhead said the officer was out of his car when he fired his weapon.
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“We’ve got physical evidence that goes to the contrary” of the woman’s statement, he said.
The officer shot the man after he made a movement, Lawhead said, declining to specify what type of movement.
“The suspect’s armed with a chrome handgun at the end of the day,” Lawhead said.
After the shooting, dozens of officers from San Bernardino and Rialto and a police helicopter responded to the scene. They set up a large perimeter to search for the remaining suspects, focusing on the neighborhood north of Foothill.
They didn’t find the men.
For hours Foothill Boulevard was closed from Meridian to Macy Street, while San Bernardino police investigated the officer-involved shooting.