Officer Shot in El Cajon

The El Cajon police officer shot and wounded responding to a domestic disturbance call underwent surgery and is said to be in critical condition.

Video shows the moments after the unidentified officer was shot outside a home at Prince and Ann Streets in El Cajon Sunday evening.

What began as the report of a child shot just before 5:30 p.m. soon turned into a SWAT situation with a raging house fire and a highway closure.

When police officers arrived to 1033 Prince Street, someone fired shots at them.

Video captured by news crews on the scene shows one officer clutching a neck wound and running for cover.

"One of the officers was hit in the head," said Lt. Mark Coit with El Cajon PD. "The other officer, his partner, ran back to him and drug him to a safe position and guarded him until other officers could get there and extract him from the area and take him to the hospital."

The officer was transported to Sharp Memorial Hospital where he was said to be in critical condition as of 7 a.m. Monday.

The suspect then returned into the home police said.

Soon after, the home was on fire. Flames shot up into the air high above the home and black smoke could be seen rising from the nearby highway.

Nearby residents were evacuated and fire helicopters dumped water on the fire to keep it from spreading.

Investigators later discovered the body of an unidentified adult near the entrance to the home.

El Cajon police said they believe they know the identity of the body but are withholding it pending confirmation.

"We haven't positively identified him," Lt. Coit said. "We have a person of interest we believe is the person. We don't know if there was anybody else in the house. We don't know if he lives there or if he stays there."

There were no details given on the damage to the home.

"From the fire department's side, we weren't able to aggressively attack the fire as we normally do due to  the situation. So what the fire department did was took hose lines to protect the surrounding structures with police protection," said Sonny Saghera with Heartland Fire and Rescue.

California Highway Patrol officers said the highway was closed near State Route 67 for some time after the initial call.

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