Police Shoot Holdup Suspect in Huntington

HUNTINGTON BEACH — A suspect in a botched robbery was shot at his home early Sunday by police officers who said he attacked them with a pair of scissors.

Michael Vines, 41, a local mason, was listed in critical but stable condition at UCI Medical Center after being shot “several times” by police officers at 12:25 a.m., said Lt. Dan Johnson of the Huntington Beach Police Department.

The officers had gone to his home on the 19000 block of Trident Lane to question him about a bungled robbery Saturday afternoon at a Sav-On Drugs store, Johnson said.

“The suspect ran from the officers and then attacked them armed with a pair of scissors,” according to a press statement by Johnson.

It was the second shooting in a month involving Huntington Beach police officers and, as with all such matters, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department is conducting an investigation. On Sept. 29, Jose Manuel Rios, 22, was shot to death by Huntington Beach police officers who said he aimed a shotgun at them.

The latest incident began at 6:35 p.m. Saturday at the Sav-On drugstore at the intersection of Adams Avenue and Brookhurst Street, where Vines allegedly brandished a gun, demanded money and then knocked down a customer before running out of the store empty-handed, according to police.

Officers say they tracked his 1976 Volkswagen van to a home in the 19800 block of Isthmus Lane in Huntington Beach, where they were told Vines lived on Trident Lane, a block away.

Shortly after police arrived, the rapid fire of gunshots echoed throughout the quiet residential neighborhood, said Larry Baggs, who lives next door to the brown stucco home Vines shared with a woman and her son.

“The shots came real fast, in rapid fire,” said Baggs, 46, who has lived in the neighborhood near Newland Elementary School for 20 years. “I looked out the window and saw the cops sweeping in.”

Later, Baggs saw a shirtless Vines being taken away in an ambulance.

Neighbors said Vines had helped his roommates fix up the Trident Lane home, which is for sale, but had been despondent because of problems with the law.

“He’s not a bad guy but he’s been real depressed lately,” said Cindy Brown, who lived across the street from Vines.