Security Guard Pleads Guilty to Shooting His Own Vehicle to Get Out of the Business

An ex-security guard who lied about an exchange of gunfire while patrolling near Gillespie Field pleaded guilty Thursday to shooting at an unoccupied vehicle -- his own -- and falsely reporting an emergency.

Lance Wright, 23, is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 26 in El Cajon before Judge Lantz Lewis. 

Wright made an emergency call about 4 a.m. on April 5 and said someone in a red Chevrolet Suburban shot at him as he was driving east on Woodside Avenue near state Route 67 in Santee. He told investigators he stopped, got out of his car and returned fire as the shooter fled.

Law enforcement officers were skeptical about the story from the outset, and Wright, who worked for Bravo 3 Security, admitted under questioning five days later that he lied about what happened and shot his own car to try to make his lie believable.

Wright told detectives he wanted to get out of the security business and thought a phony shooting would give him an excuse to quit, according to sheriff's Sgt. Scott Enyeart.

Wright, who was eventually fired from his security job, was arrested April 26.

Even though he pleaded guilty, it does not preclude prosecutors from filing more charges arising from the same crime, Deputy District Attorney Gordon Davis said.

Wright could be made to pay the Sheriff's Department or the California Highway Patrol for the time they spent investigating the shooting, Davis said.

-City News Service