San Diego policewoman shot in neck during gun battle will survive

By Marty Graham SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A San Diego policewoman who was shot in the neck during a gun battle after a high-speed pursuit that ended in the death of an armed suspect has undergone surgery and will recover, the city's police chief said on Monday. Officer Heather Seddon, a five-year veteran of the force, was shot on Sunday morning after police tried to stop a gray Jeep which they had been looking for in connection with several local shooting incidents. San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said the driver, 34-year-old Dennis Richard Fiel, fled and led the officers on a freeway chase before abandoning the vehicle on foot. Fiel was then confronted by at least three officers and they exchanged gunfire in the brush alongside the freeway, Zimmerman said. The suspect died at the scene. The car he had been driving fitted the description of one used in at least six incidents since January in which a man shot into buildings including offices of the San Diego Gas & Electric company and a 7-11 convenience store. No one was injured in those shootings, police said. Lieutenant Mike Hastings, a spokesman for the San Diego Police Department, said Sunday's shootout was captured by two body cameras worn by the officers. He said a search of Fiel's residence turned up a second gun, magazines and ammunition, and several marijuana plants. Hastings said police have not yet finished the evidence tests necessary to confirm whether Fiel was the shooter in the earlier incidents, and that he is only considered a suspect. Seddon, a training officer, responded to the call accompanied by a police trainee, the city's police chief said. She had surgery on Sunday to remove the bullet. Zimmerman said that days before the shooting, Seddon was nominated for a department commendation. (Reporting by Marty Graham; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Eric Walsh)