Teenage Gang Member Armed With a Rifle is Shot by Merced Deputy When He Shot Her in The Ear
Posted on
June 22,2023
Merced County, California — On April 29, 2023, around 1:00 p.m., Merced County Sheriff’s Deputies received information about potential gang members with firearms in the area of the Winton cemetary. Deputy Nasir Wali responded to the scene and observed several subjects run out of the cemetery and enter a vehicle. Deputy Wali attempted to stop the vehicle, however, the suspects failed to stop and a chase began. Deputy Lucy Lopez joined the pursuit, which deputies say lasted nearly four minutes when the vehicle collided with a parked car at the corner of Walnut Avenue and Suzie Street in Winton. Multiple people exited the crashed vehicle and began to run on foot as deputies followed, demanding the suspects stop.
Deputies lost sight of one of the suspects, identified as 17-year-old Jonathan Daniel Diaz-Duarte, who had taken off into a neighboring apartment complex, carrying what officials believed to be an AR-15 rifle. Deputy Lopez joined the chase and they were able to catch up with Diaz-Duarte as he had tripped and fell onto the gravel in an empty lot. Officials say he turned his gun on tDeputy Lopez, firing one shot that hit her in the left ear, which led to her returning fire, striking Diaz-Duarte three times. Medical personnel arrived shortly after and attempted life-saving measures on Diaz-Duarte, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Deputy Lopez was taken to an area hospital for treatment of her injuries, she is expected to make a full recovery. The suspect’s family members say he had been recently released from juvenile hall and had his ankle bracelet off a day before he was killed.
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