Monterey Police looking for suspects in attempted murder of police officer and carjacking

Monterey Police are investigating a carjacking that led to a shooting between the suspects and an off duty police officer.

It happened near Encina Avenue and Virgin Avenue.

Just before 9:00 Saturday night two men approached a man outside his car and demanded his keys.

One of the suspects hit the victim in the face and the other pointed a gun at him.

The victim gave the keys to the suspects and he left the area.

The suspects tried to leave in the victim’s car, but an off duty Monterey Airport police officer was in the area and confronted them.

The officer and the suspects shot at each other before the two suspects ran down Virgin Avenue toward Laguna Grande Park.

The officers and the suspects were not hit by the gunfire, but the suspects got away.

Police are looking for two Hispanic men between 5’5″ and 5’7″. Both were wearing jeans and dark hooded sweatshirts. One of them still has a gun.

The two are wanted for carjacking and attempted murder of a police officer.

Chief of Police, David Hober, said that it is uncommon that the area would see cases of violent crime.

“We do pride ourselves on the fact that there’s not a lot of violent crime in the City of Monterey. Every so often something like this does happen, and it’s disheartening. We try to do everything that we can so this kind of thing doesn’t happen in the city of Monterey,” said Hober.

Christian Melendez, who works as at a nearby farmers market, said that he has never felt threatened in the area.

“It always seems pretty quiet around here. I’ve never really felt too threatened about anything at all,” said Melendez.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Monterey Police Investigations Division at 831-646-3822.