MODESTO, CALIFORNIA -- An unidentified man and a robber had a shootout Saturday at a Highway 99 gas station north of Manteca, San Joaquin County sheriff's deputies reported.

The robber fled on a motorcycle, and the man left in a tan or gold Ford van without talking to deputies, officials said. Neither was wounded, deputies said.

Deputies said they consider the man a good Samaritan who got in over his head. While deputies would like to talk to him, they're not considering charges.

The shooting occurred about 10:39 a.m. outside the Exxon station at 14800 S. Highway 99.

Deputy Nelida Stone said deputies don't know why the man had a loaded gun or why he got involved. The suspected robber was caught a short time later in Lathrop.

Deputies spotted him riding the motorcycle west on Lathrop Road. They chased him at high speeds to Lathrop, where he abandoned the motorcycle in a neighborhood and ran.

He jumped fences and ran through yards before an off-duty Alameda County deputy, who lives in the neighborhood, confronted him, Stone said.

After a brief struggle with the off-duty deputy, the man, identified as David Basil Allen, 41, of Stockton, was arrested, she said.

Stone said deputies recovered a .22-caliber handgun near the motorcycle. The gun had been fired twice, she said.

The motorcycle had been hit by two bullets -- one in the windshield and the other near the front. The motorcycle was reported stolen Dec. 14 in Stockton.

Deputies said $600 found in Allen's pocket had been taken in the robbery. In addition to robbery, Allen has been charged with attempted murder in connection with shots fired at the Samaritan and other bystanders.

Allen also was wanted on two counts of attempted murder that occurred Thursday, Stone said.

Allen is accused of stabbing a woman in the abdomen and her husband in the face.

Details of the attempted murders were not available Saturday. However, Stone said, the woman is in stable condition at a hospital and her husband was treated and released.

The sheriff's department asks anyone with information about the unknown man to call 468-4400.

Bee staff writer Daryl Farnsworth can be reached at 578-2337.

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