At just past twelve thirty on thursday morning, burglars broke into an apartment on Michigan Drive while the victim was inside.  The victim called police. When they arrived 3 burglars ran from the property. The officer got into a scuffle with one of the suspects, thats when he opened fire. 

 

"The officer fired his weapon striking the suspect," said Deputy Angel Ramos, Public Information Officer for Riverside County Sheriffs. "As this is going on additional officers who responded to the scene were giving foot chase to a second suspect."

 

That suspect ran through the neighborhood jumping over fences to evade capture. Police tried to stop him with a taser gun, but were unsucessful. He and a third suspect got away.

 

The shooting happened here on Michigan Drive. Investigators were on scene for most of the day and had the street blocked off as they tried to piece together what happened. Neighbors say unfortunately they're not suprised something like this happened so close to home.

 

Neighbors say they complained to police about crime in the neighborhood and police had ramped up patrols, but they say they still see illegal activity around the apartment complex.   

 

"This is a set back and unfortunately these apartments along here on Michigan have always been infested with a lot of crime," said neighbor Dave Marshall.  "There are a lot of parolees and section 8 people living in these apartments."

 

"We have our problems here in this area but not all the time," said witness Manuel Ramirez. Somebody getting shot here, it's very serious."

 

It's unkown if the burglars were armed. The suspect died from his gun shot wounds. The officer was treated for non life threatening injuries.