Friday, 25 October 2013

Suspect in shootings of California law enforcement officers surrounded


Police in northern California were searching Friday for Samuel Duran after at least two law enforcement officers were wounded.
Police in northern California were searching Friday for Samuel Duran after at least two law enforcement officers were wounded.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • NEW: Chief: None of the injuries to law enforcement officers are life-threatening
  • An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent is shot in the leg, police say
  • 3 Roseville, California, officers are shot in the jaw, shoulder and hurt by fragments
  • Authorities had "pinned ... down" the suspect, a wanted parolee, in a house
(CNN) -- California authorities have surrounded a wanted parolee accused of shooting federal and local officers, hitting three and wounding one more with shrapnel fragments, police said.
After that initial shooting, Samuel Duran ran and hopped fences in a Roseville neighborhood as members of various law enforcement agencies converged on the scene, police said.
Authorities located him at an otherwise unoccupied house in Roseville, which is 20 miles northeast of Sacramento.
"I know he's pinned down," Roseville police Lt. Cal Walstad said.
Duran has been sought by authorities "for the last couple of weeks," according to Walstad, who did not detail what crimes the suspect had been tied to.
After determining where he was in Roseville, local police and a special agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit went there Friday afternoon.
According to Walstad, "once they made contact with him, shots were exchanged."
The ICE special agent was shot in the leg and transported to a local hospital, the police spokesman said. He was reported to be stable and alert a few hours later, said ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice.
The suspect ran, firing at times and jumping fences.
Three Roseville police officers ended up wounded at a third shooting site . One was struck in the jaw, one was hit in the shoulder, and the third wounded by bullet fragments, according to Walstad.
One of the Roseville officers was in serious condition, while the other two were stable, he said. Chief Daniel Hahn added later Friday that none of the injuries to the officers, all of them men and veterans of the department, are considered life-threatening.
Authorities from multiple agencies quickly converged on the scene looking for Duran, who Walstad said had an "assault-type weapon."
Neighbors were asked not to leave their houses, but they were never evacuated. The scene was later considered "contained" -- even though police hadn't said they knew exactly where the suspect was.
Now that they do, he's being surrounded by law enforcement. Hostage negotiations are on site as well, though it's not believed that the suspect has taken any hostages.
Authorities are talking to the suspect by telephone, Walstad said.
Brenda Bell tol that the suspect is in her house; she went outside after her "dogs went crazy," then she ran into a neighbor's house after seeing him run through her back gate.
"(Police) keep repeating, 'We have the house surrounded. Come out with your hands up,'" Jim Stewart, the neighbor who invited Bell in, said Friday night. "They've been doing this for hours now."
Placer County Sheriff Edward Bonner described the situation as "incredibly dangerous," while expressing confidence it'll be resolved as well as possible.
"This is a very tough day," Bonner said. "It's unsettling for all us; no one is immune to this sort of tragedy and criminality. But here it is.
"But I'll tell you what," he added. "We have a great community of law enforcement that is going to deal with this."

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