Police Pursuit Interrupts Race Event

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Meseret Defar of Ethiopia won the women's Synchrony Rock `n' Roll San Diego Half Marathon on Sunday while Titus Ekiru of Kenya upset Olympic silver medalist Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia in the men's race.

The elite runners in the half and full marathon had finished long before the race was halted for about 10 minutes and rerouted after a police officer accidentally shot himself in the leg while pursuing a hit-and-run suspect who pointed a weapon at police and was eventually arrested on the roof of a parking structure near the finish line in downtown.

Defar, a two-time Olympic champion in the 5,000 meters, finished in 1 hour, 8 minutes, 26 seconds, well ahead of Jane Kibii of Kenya, who clocked 1:12:00. Kaitlyn James of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, was third in 1:13:54.

Ekiru won the men's race in 1:01:02, 16 seconds ahead of Lilesa, who won the silver medal in the marathon at the Rio Olympics. Josphat Kipchirchir of Kenya was third in 1:02:21.

The San Diego police officer accidentally shot himself in the leg while pursuing a hit-and-run suspect, identified by police as 58-year-old Mona Elease Williams, who pointed a weapon at officers and was eventually arrested on the roof of a parking structure near the finish line, authorities said. Officers fired at the woman but missed after she brandished the weapon at the parking facility at the edge of a downtown plaza shared by City Hall, police Chief David Nisleit told reporters. Williams threw the weapon from the top of the structure to the street below before being taken into custody, Nisleit said.

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