California: Driver accused of ramming off-duty deputies shot

A driver accused of running over two off-duty deputies was shot by a third off-duty deputy in Vista early Sunday morning, a sheriff’s official said. Several people were arguing in front of a 7-Eleven store on East Vista Way near Palomar Place about 2 a.m. when three off-duty sheriff’s deputies walked up to the group to “intervene and de-escalate the situation,” sheriff’s homicide Lt. Kenn Nelson said in a statement.

Soon after they approached, one of the individuals involved in the altercation got into a nearby vehicle, and backed it up into two of the deputies, knocking one underneath the vehicle, Nelson said. The driver then drove at the other off-duty deputy, who fired multiple rounds at the motorist.

The driver, later identified as 32-year-old Alejandro Blanco, was shot twice, Nelson said. The vehicle stopped, and the deputies assisted Blanco until an ambulance arrived and took him to a hospital. He suffered wounds that weren’t life threatening.

Blanco will be arrested and booked into jail on suspicion of multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon, Nelson said. The off-duty deputies hit by the vehicle were also treated at hospitals with injuries that weren’t life-threatening.

Investigators are working to determine what the fight was about, how many people were involved, and what the deputies were doing in the area before the altercation unfolded. The 7-Eleven shares a parking lot with several other businesses, including a laundromat, Tasty Pizza, a restaurant, and Jim's Vista Lounge, a bar.