Suspect Shot by Morro Bay Police in Stable Condition

UPDATE

Following a 1 p.m. press briefing from the Morro Bay Police Department, new details about the suspect and the officer-involved shooting incident have surfaced.

Police identified the suspect as 20-year-old Alec Bryan Stephenson, a transient. Stephenson was arrested a few weeks ago for vehicle burglary, and just last night, the suspect was spoken to by police officers who were responding to suspicious activity around cars near the Harbor Department and Coast Guard facilities, said authorities.

Alec Bryan Stephenson, 20, Transient

During Friday morning’s incident near Coleman Park, police said that dispatch received a second citizen call to report an officer being attacked. At one point, the officer was hit in the head with a blunt object.

While the investigation is still in its early stages, authorities told the press that the suspect continued to come towards the officer after the initial assault, at which point the officer fired one round, which struck the suspect in the leg.

The officers involved were Senior Officer Dale Cullum and Officer Maria Lomeli. Cullum was the officer that fired his weapon during the incident. He was given medical treatment at a local hospital. Both officers have been placed on administrative leave.

External and administrative investigations will take place, and will look into the burglary that initiated the police response, the assault, and the officer-involved shooting.

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A suspect who confronted police near Morro Rock in the city of Morro Bay Friday morning, suffered a non-life threatening gunshot wound when a police officer discharged his firearm.

The suspect was shot once in the leg and is in stable condition at Sierra Vista Medical Center in San Luis Obispo.

The incident occurred just beyond Coleman Park at about 6:40 a.m.

Authorities say that a citizen had reported the suspect breaking into a local store and then fleeing toward the Morro Rock parking lot. That’s when the Morro Bay Police Department says the suspect was confronted by one of its officers, at which point the suspect hit the officer over the head with an unknown object.

It’s unclear exactly when the officer fired his weapon, but the Morro Bay Police Department has requested the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office to conduct an independent investigation into the officer-involved shooting.

The SLO County Sheriff’s Office was on scene, and its forensics unit worked on collecting evidence from the scene.

The Sheriff’s Office will also collaborate with Morro Bay PD in both the burglary that took place and the assault on the officer.