Gun Battle: Two injured following an officer involved shooting.
Two carjacking suspects were wounded Tuesday as police cornered and shot at them one block west of Santa Ana College.
The male suspect, Petricia Muntean, 19, sustained a gunshot wound. The female suspect, Karen Ensaldo, 20, suffered a cut on her chin. Both were taken to the hospital in separate ambulances, according Santa Ana police. The two were arrested on suspicion of armed robbery, driving a stolen vehicle and evading arrest.
The short pursuit began on Hesperian and Bristol Streets when Orange County sheriffs attempted to stop a beige Toyota Camry after pickg up a LoJack anti-theft device signal.
Ensado is suspected of stealing the car at gunpoint in a motel on Orangethorpe Avenue, near the Anaheim-Santa Ana border, at about 7 a.m., according to Anaheim police. The carjacking victim was not injured.
Multiple squad cars cornered the suspects after the car had jumped a curb and crashed into a tree on the corner of Alona and 18th Streets. Multiple shots were fired before the two were taken into custody, witnesses said.
Paramedics wiped down and bandaged Muntean’s blood-soaked right arm as he sat on the sidewalk moments after the incident. Ensaldo had blood trickling down from the chin, likely from the crash, police said. Neither sustained life-threatening injuries, police said.
During the brief shootout, police closed a one-block stretch of 17th Street, roughly between nearby fast food restaurants Mos 2 and Bob’s Big Boy Burgers, for less than 10 minutes.
“So there were gunshots fired, huh? I knew it,” said Daniel Salinas, who was in Santa Ana College and heard the gunfire.
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