Shots fired near a downtown San Diego parking garage interrupted a marathon with thousands of runners and spectators Sunday.

A woman with an airsoft gun was taken into custody and a San Diego police officer was hospitalized with what has been described as a self-inflicted wound to the lower leg.

The first report of multiple shots fired came in at approximately 11:20 a.m. from the City Hall Parkade at A and 1st, approximately two blocks from the finish line of the Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon.

Tens of thousands of runners were participating in the marathon that runs from State Route 163 along B Street and ends at Union Street.

At 11:45 a.m., the marathon course was shut down and close to 5,000 athletes were moved to a designated "safe zone," according to race officials.

The incident began after a hit-and-run collision was reported at West A Street and Kettner just before 11 a.m., San Diego Chief of Police David Nisleit told reporters.

Officers followed the suspect's car to the City Hall Parkade where an officer confronted the woman behind the wheel.

"The sergeant walked up to the driver's side of the vehicle and the suspect pointed the handgun at the sergeant," SDPD Capt. Mike Hastings said.



The suspect then continued to move up inside the parking garage.

"During that time the person was armed with a handgun, had the handgun very visible, the helicopter could see the handgun, so we started getting calls in of an active shooter," Nisleit said.

At one point, an officer fired two rounds, missing the woman, police officials said.



After the suspect threw the weapon down near A Street and 2nd Avenue, she was taken into custody without incident.

She has been identified as 58-year-old Mona Elease Williams.

As of 12 p.m., the marathon had resumed with police declaring the scene safe. No athletes were injured.

"At this time there appears to be no correlation or nexus to the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and this incident that we responded to,"Nisleit said. "I also want to make sure everybody understands that there’s nobody outstanding, that this scene is completely safe."



Nisleit said there were officers already staged along the marathon route providing traffic control and security when the initial call of reports was received.

The injured police officer was out of surgery and was expected to make a full recovery.

Police widening perimeter to Fourth and B. #NBC7 pic.twitter.com/j7oDj3kdFT — Megan Tevrizian (@megantevrizian) June 3, 2018

The Broadway San Diego 1 p.m. production of Les Miserables at the nearby Civic Theatre started about 45 minutes late.

Dick Geiss was outside the theatre with eight family members as they were gathering to see the performance.

“While we were sitting there all these sirens were going off and we asked the server, 'Is this normal?'" Geiss said. "I grew up in Chicago and it was never like this in downtown Chicago so we knew something was going on."

Shots Fired Near Civic Center Plaza

The parking garage involved in the incident was closed for cars going in and out, leaving some who ran the race or cheered on the runners stranded.



Race officials said they will be communicating with the athletes on how the stoppage will affect their times.