"Mr. Gallegos was an evil man..."

LONG BEACH – Oscar Gabriel Gallegos, the fugitive wanted in the shooting of two Long Beach police officers during a traffic stop last week, died in a hail of bullets Wednesday, shooting on his hands and knees at three police officers outside a crowded Santa Ana taco stand.

In his pockets, he had two fully loaded magazines. His handgun, a .40-caliber Glock, had a laser sight. He was shot 15 times, Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters said.

"He was either going to kill the officers or be killed," Walters said. "Fortunately, the right person got killed."

The gunfight was brief, but it brought a dramatic and abrupt end to a manhunt for Gallegos, the man police had been seeking since officers Abram Yap and Roy Wade Jr. were shot as they sat in their squad car Dec. 22. The officers had pulled over Gallegos for running a red light in downtown Long Beach.

At a news conference Thursday, Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley confirmed the dead gunman was Gallegos, an illegal immigrant. He has been deported to Mexico three times, the last time in 1996, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

During the past 16 years, Gallegos has been charged with weapons and drug violations, the Long Beach Police Department said. A year after he was last deported, he was charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

"Mr. Gallegos was an evil man," Long Beach Police Chief Anthony Batts said. "We never slowed down. We never stopped."

Yap, a Fountain Valley High School graduate, was hit once in the face. Wade, a rookie who graduated from the police academy less than a month ago, was shot several times in the chest and neck. The officers never got out of the car and didn't shoot back. They remain in critical condition.

On Thursday, Yap's family issued a statement thanking the officers who worked to find Gallegos and the community for their support.

"To all the relatives, friends, public officials and citizens who have helped us get through this with your well wishes, prayers and love, thank you."

Within a day of the shooting, local and federal authorities had tracked Gallegos to Santa Ana. Batts repeatedly warned friends and relatives of Gallegos not to hide him or help him escape and tried to persuade Gallegos to turn himself in.

About 5 p.m. Wednesday, undercover Long Beach detectives tailed Gallegos to a strip mall in the 200 block of East Warner Avenue. They called in Santa Ana police for help.

Walking back from the taco shop, Gallegos saw a white police sedan pull up. He saw three uniformed officers and began shooting before the officers got out of the car, Walters said.

The officers – members of Santa Ana's Strikeforce, a heavily armed SWAT unit – took cover and fired back, Walters said.

"He kept shooting and shooting. Even after he was wounded, he kept shooting on his hands and knees. It was obviously his intention to kill or injure our police officers," Walters said.

The officers, whose names have not been released, were uninjured, Walters said.

Batts was in the middle of a news conference Wednesday to announce a $75,000 reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of Gallegos when a police official whispered the news of the Santa Ana shooting.

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