‘Pizza Man’ Has Surprise for Gunmen : Crime: Police dressed as Domino’s drivers foil robbery attempt. Suspected gang member is wounded in shootout.

FULLERTON —  Gunmen who tried to rob a Domino’s driver in Fullerton on Thursday were foiled when the pizza man turned out to be a pepperoni-toting cop in disguise.

A suspected gang member was wounded in the shootout that followed, and two others fled and holed up for hours in a nearby house, authorities said. Seven hours after the pizza order was placed, a dozen people had been arrested or detained for questioning.

The incident began shortly after midnight when a Domino’s store got a fishy-sounding order for two pizzas to be delivered to a neighborhood where a driver had been robbed a week earlier. The caller was evasive about his telephone number, and the one he eventually gave matched the number given on the night of the robbery, police said.

Domino’s employees called police, and two Fullerton officers raced to suit up as Domino’s drivers in time to deliver the two large pizzas--a pepperoni and a combination--within the promised 30 minutes.

As one officer waited in the Domino’s delivery car with a radio, the other stepped out with the pizzas and was greeted on the curb by two men. Instead of handing over cash for their order, they pulled out guns.

When the officer announced his real identity, one of the gunmen fired, triggering a shootout that left his alleged accomplice, an 18-year-old, wounded in the abdomen and leg, Sgt. Glenn Deveney said. Neither officer was injured.

Backup officers arrived, exchanging shots with two more suspected gang members, Sgt. Dan Becerra said. The two suspects ran to a nearby house and hid. Police rounded up seven people from the house and called the SWAT team when four others refused to come out. Those four gave themselves up about six hours later. The suspect who fired at the undercover officer was still at large Thursday afternoon, Becerra said.

The wounded suspect, Sergio Gonzales of Fullerton, described by police as a member of a local street gang, was listed in stable condition Thursday at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange. Deveney said Gonzales will be booked on suspicion of attempted murder of a police officer and attempted robbery.

Two reputed members of the same gang--Gilbert Olvera, 20, of Fullerton and a 16-year-old Fullerton youth whose identity was not released--were arrested on the same charges, police said.

Domino’s officials praised Fullerton police for taking their concerns seriously and moving with the speed of a fast-food restaurant--changing into Domino’s uniforms as the pizzas cooked. “The police really came through,” said Tim McIntyre, a spokesman at Domino’s corporate headquarters in Ann Arbor, Mich. “This is a case where the good guys won.”