Authorities Tuesday publicly identified a 33-year- old documented gang member killed this week in a shootout with police near Southwestern College.
David Angulo, a suspect in two recent attempted-murder cases, was mortally wounded while allegedly exchanging gunfire with officers late Monday afternoon following a carjacking and road chase through eastern Chula Vista.
The events that led to the deadly armed showdown began shortly before 5:30 p.m., when Chula Vista Police Department officers and agents with a fugitive task force spotted Angulo in the area of Main Street and Maxwell Road and recognized him as the subject of several arrest warrants, CVPD Lt. Dan Peak said.
“An agent working for the task force then observed Angulo use a handgun to carjack a Ford truck … in the area,” Peak said. “The agent attempted to stop the carjacking, but Angulo escaped with the truck, driving against traffic at extremely high rates of speed, further endangering the public.”
A short time later, Chula Vista police officers in marked patrol cars caught up to the truck and tried to pull over the suspect. He refused to yield, leading a roughly 10-minute pursuit that ended when he crashed the stolen pickup into another vehicle in the 900 block of Rutgers Avenue, authorities said.
Angulo then jumped out of the damaged truck and ran to a nearby home. When he tried to force residents to let him in at the point of a gun, they slammed the door and locked it, leaving him outside, the lieutenant said.
The suspect then turned around and faced off with the pursuing officers, refusing their repeated commands to surrender.
“Angulo and officers … exchanged gunfire, with Angulo firing at least one round from a pistol,” Peak said Tuesday, adding that three officers “fired multiple rounds in response to the deadly threat Angulo presented. At this preliminary point in the investigation, it is unclear who fired first.”
No officers were injured during the shootout.
The motorist whose car was struck and left overturned by the stolen truck was taken to a hospital for treatment of head injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening.
At the time of his fatal confrontation with police, Angulo was wanted in connection with shootings that wounded two people in Chula Vista, the first in the 300 block of Broadway on June 4, and the second 18 days later in the 600 block of E Street. He also was being sought for questioning regarding a shooting that took place in San Diego late last month.
The suspect had “an extensive criminal history, including cases involving assault with a deadly weapon, robbery, kidnapping, carjacking and assaulting an officer,” according to Peak.
“Angulo was considered by police to be armed and extremely dangerous to the community, and several local agencies were involved in searching for him,” Peak said.
— City News Service