San Diego police shootings
A police SWAT team leaves a home they had surrounded while searching for a second suspect after a San Diego police officer was fatally shot and another was wounded late on 28 July in San Diego, California Mike Blake/Reuters

The suspect involved in a police shooting that killed one San Diego police officer and wounded another has been named as 52-year-old Jesse Gomez. Officer Jonathan DeGuzman, 43, was killed in the attack while his partner, Officer Wade Irwin, 32, was injured following a deadly shootout on Thursday 28 July.

The shooting took place after the two officers – both members of the gang-suppression squad – made a stop in southeastern San Diego.

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San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said officers called for backup almost immediately after the shootout began. "We're talking very, very quickly. Seconds to a minute or so," said Zimmerman.

The officers were wearing body cameras, according to the New York Times. Zimmerman added that Gomez was taken into custody in a critical condition from a gunshot wound to the upper body. He is expected to survive.

A second man, Marcus Antonio Cassani, 41, was arrested by police. According to Zimmerman, investigators are trying to work out whether he was involved in the incident. She added that Cassani was apprehended outside a property which had been surrounded by a SWAT team for hours.

DeGuzman, a 16-year-old police veteran, died after being rushed to hospital. He is survived by his wife and two young children.

Officer Irwin is a nine-year veteran who is also married. "It's a little bit of a long haul until he makes a full recovery, but the good news is that he is going to survive and he is going to recover," Zimmerman said of Irwin.

The incident comes at a time of heightened tensions in the US following a spate of deadly attacks targeted at law enforcement. Earlier this month, five officers were fatally shot in Dallas, while three were gunned down in Baton Rouge.

Speaking at a gathering of law enforcement and emergency personnel in Baton Rouge on 29 July, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch mentioned the attack. "I know that this community, more than most, knows exactly what those families are feeling at this moment, knows exactly what the San Diego Police Department is going through at this moment," she said at a Louisiana Methodist church.