Calif. officer wounded, police search for shooter

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Police searched on Sunday for as many as three men who were involved in the late-night shooting of an anti-gang detective, who was wounded as he drove in a squad car with another officer, authorities said.

The officers were driving at about 11 p.m. Saturday near Anaheim Street and Gundry Avenue in Long Beach when a gunman opened fire, hitting the detective in the upper body, police spokesman Sgt. Rico Fernandez told The Associated Press.

A patrol officer who happened to be nearby heard the shots and saw the suspects, Fernandez said. The officer fired at the suspects as they fled, but it was unclear whether anyone was hit.

Dozens of officers spread out in the MacArthur Park area and looked for two, possibly three men, who fled in a car, Fernandez said.

The 30-year-old detective, who is a seven-year veteran, was hospitalized in stable condition.

Chief Jim McDonnell said at a news conference Sunday that the gunshot did not hit the detective's bulletproof vest, but the detective was expected to recover.

"He's going to be OK down the road," the chief said.

McDonnell said that though the detective was in an unmarked car, there were several indications that he was a police officer and the gunman would have known this before firing.

The shooting comes less than three months after a Southern California police officer was fatally wounded. Riverside Officer Ryan Bonaminio was shot in an ambush Nov. 7. A suspect has been charged with murder in his death.