Gunman Opens Fire at Police Station
Local authorities were looking for a gunman who opened fire at a police station in California on Wednesday morning and wounded at least one deputy.
A man was reported to be firings shots at a police station in downtown Paso Robles at around 3:45 a.m., according to the Los Angeles Times.
The gunfire reportedly lasted over a span of several minutes.
An unidentified deputy was shot in the face, according to Sgt. Steve Odom, and his partner returned fire.
The deputy was airlifted to the hospital and was in serious but stable condition.
The San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Department issued a shelter-in-place order for the downtown part of the city while authorities searched for the suspect:
Update: Active Shooter situation.
Shelter in place order still in effect for the downtown Paso Robles
Law enforcement searching for armed gunman.
The suspect described as male in 20’s or 30’s
The wounded Deputy listed in serious but stable condition. Airlifted to a trauma center pic.twitter.com/YR5pez99Bx— SLO County Sheriff (@SLOSheriff) June 10, 2020
An automated emergency phone call to citizens in the area said, “This is the sheriff’s office. Please continue to shelter in place. If you must leave your residence, please do not come back until the shelter-in-place has been lifted,” the Paso Robles Daily News reported.
Roads around downtown were also closed and barricaded as a SWAT team and other law enforcement personnel searched the area.
The entire downtown area of Paso Robles is under a stay-at-home order as law enforcement searches for the shooter. CHP officers armed with rifles are blocking off roads to form a perimeter around the search area pic.twitter.com/Nfc8k20nff
— Marie Edinger KMPH (@MarieEdinger) June 10, 2020
Authorities found a dead body near the Paso Robles train station on the west side of the railroad tracks, and authorities said they believed that death to be related to the manhunt for the suspect who shot the deputy.
The suspect was reported to be a man in his 20s or 30s, and The Paso Robles Press reported he has dark curly hair and is wearing a white hoodie.
Criticism of police officers has increased recently as protesters respond to the death of George Floyd, who died on May 25 in Minneapolis after a police officer knelt on his neck for roughly nine minutes during an arrest.
Protests reached a horrifying apex of violence Thursday in Mexico when, during a protest in Guadalajara, a police officer who took his eyes off demonstrators was set on fire in an incident caught on video.
Mike O’Meara, president of the New York State Association of Police Benevolent Associations, blasted Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer accused of second-degree murder in the death of Floyd, and stressed that no police officers should be judged by Chauvin’s actions.
“Everybody’s trying to shame us. The legislators, the press. Everybody’s trying to shame us into being embarrassed about our profession,” he said at a news conference Tuesday.
“Stop treating us like animals and thugs,” he said. “And start treating us with some respect. That’s what we’re here today to say.”
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