JD Alvarado, the Salinas police officer who was killed during a traffic stop on Feb. 25 was shot 12 times but managed to get off one shot hitting his alleged killer Gustavo Morales in the hand. “Alvarado miraculously shot him and marked his assassin and was able to bring him to justice,” said prosecutor Chris Knight at a hearing Thursday morning to determine whether Morales should stand trial on charges he shot and killed officer Alvarado. “Morales decided to execute JD Alvarado instead of going back to jail,” Knight said in his closing statement to a judge. That judge ultimately decided there was sufficient cause to hold Morales over for trial on charges he murdered officer Alvarado. That decision was made after prosecutor Knight presented evidence that included testimony from nine sworn officers including detectives, sheriff’s deputies, Salinas police officers and investigators with the district attorney’s office. Other evidence included confessions from the accused killer and recovery of the alleged murder weapon. Also shown publicly for the first time, video taken from Alvarado’s body camera and surveillance video from a nearby business that shows the accused killer getting out of his car, approaching Alvarado’s patrol car, opening fire on Alvarado and then driving away. The incident lasted just seconds. Salinas Det. Alejandro Zamora testified he went to the home of Morales’ parents the next day where he interviewed his father who told the detective that Morales showed up the night before with a gunshot wound to his hand. The father told the detective that Morales said: “he was in a shootout with police.” The detective also testified Morales’ father told him that the family tried to take Morales to Natividad medical center but that Morales refused to go in because there were a lot of police around, so they drove him the Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. It was there that a witness who allegedly saw Morales fleeing the scene of the shooting positively identified Morales as the gunman as he was being loaded up in an ambulance. Alicia Cox an investigator with the district attorney’s office testified she was part of a wiretap operation in which Morales was put in a room with an informant who was equipped with a wire to record their conversation. Cox testified that Morales told the informant “I got one of those guys,” referring to a law enforcement officer, in this case, Alvarado. Morales, according to Cox also told the informant that the officer was not able to get out of his car and that he shot him with a 9 mm Taurus gun. That same gun would be found in a dresser drawer wrapped in tin foil at the North Hebron home of Morales’ parents, according to testimony. When Cox was cross-examined by Morales’ attorney Jeremy Dzubay, it was revealed that Morales was a gang dropout and in the witness protection program because he had been shot at by gang members. From testimony, it appears officer Alvarado may have initiated the traffic stop on Morales because he had an “amplified muffler” which is a vehicle code violation. Before coming to a stop near the Pollo Loco at east Market and Griffin investigator Cox testified that Morales called his sister on his cellphone to tell her goodbye because he “didn’t think he was going to make it.” According to testimony Morales had been drinking and was on probation for gun possession and DUI. In his last statement to the court prosecutor Knight said Morales knew he was violating his probation and Morales “made up his mind to murder JD.” Morales’ two attorneys made no final statement to the judge and the judge concluded there was sufficient cause to hold Morales over for trial on murder charges. Morales is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 27. He remains in custody on a no-bail hold.