QUESTIONS PROMPTED BY POLICE SHOOTING

Two Undercover Officers Fired At An SUV After They Thought Someone Tried To
Shoot Them

An undercover operation had gone sour for Anaheim police masquerading as
street toughs while following a drug investigation into a Fullerton
neighborhood.

After arguing with gang members displeased about the presence of strangers
on their turf, the officers decided to cut their losses and leave.

As they made their way onto busy Harbor Boulevard from Valencia Drive about
5:50 p.m. Wednesday, the plainclothes policemen feared they were being
followed by a white Chevrolet Suburban.

Then their car was hit by what officers thought was gunfire, police said.

They fired bullets into the windshield of the sport-utility truck,
shattering a rear window and narrowly missing the occupants as the vehicle
sped away.

Police followed, and four suspected gang members, including the driver and
passenger in the Suburban, were booked on suspicion of shooting at the
officers.

But less than 24 hours later, the men were cleared after Fullerton police
investigators determined that the undercover officers had not been shot at
after all.

Salvador Garcia, 23, of Anaheim, said he still was shaken and upset
Saturday after being shot at, arrested and forced to spend the night in
jail. His truck remains impounded for evidence by Fullerton police. He was
told he would have to file a claim with Anaheim to repair the bullet holes.

Police said Garcia, Isaac Castillo and the other two men arrested after the
shooting - Adriel Joshua Garcia of La Habra and Juan Manuel Ramos of
Fullerton - are suspected gang members or associates.

Ramos and Adriel Garcia remained in custody on unrelated charges.

"According to the officers' statements, when their vehicle was hit by an
object, which was later determined to be a pomegranate, they believed they
were under fire from the Suburban so they returned fire," Fullerton police
Sgt. Joe Klein said Saturday. "The information we have is that it was
thrown from the Suburban."

Not so, said Salvador Garcia, who was behind the wheel of the truck. He and
his passenger, Castillo, denied throwing the fruit.

Anaheim police declined to discuss the shooting or the undercover
investigation that led to it. "Once the investigation is complete, then we
will, of course, respond to whatever the findings are," Anaheim police Sgt.
Rick Martinez said.

Fullerton investigators expect to finish their investigation sometime this
week. They had not decided Saturday whether to pursue criminal charges for
the thrown fruit, Klein said.

Garcia insists he and Castillo were just running an errand, driving through
downtown Fullerton, when they were ambushed. "I took off trying to get away
from the scene because I thought they were going to come back and shoot at
us some more," he said.

Castillo, 20, said he was so terrified by the shooting that he jumped from
the Suburban and ran away on foot. Garcia drove into the parking lot of a
nearby Denny's restaurant.

"I was just trying to get to a place where there were a lot of people," he
said. "I didn't think they would shoot at me where there were a lot of people."

Only later did they learn that the gunmen who fired at least seven bullets
at them were police officers.

"I have never been shot at before," Garcia said. "It was an experience that
I don't wish anybody to go through.