SANTA MARIA VALLEY, Calif.- For the second time this week a suspect who led law enforcement officers on a vehicle pursuit in the Santa Maria Valley has been shot and killed by pursuing officers.
This one began in Santa Maria, wound its way up Highway 101 into Nipomo, then back down to Guadalupe and ended on Highway One just west of Orcutt. The Santa Maria Police Department says it began at about 6:00pm Thursday night with 911 calls of a man driving around Santa Maria showing or brandishing a gun to other drivers.
Police say they found an SUV matching the description from the 911 calls and tried to get the driver to pull over for a traffic stop. That's when the chase began. Our news camera caught up the pursuit as it was nearing its end on Highway One just past the Black Road intersection with a convoy of Santa Maria police cars chasing the gold-colored SUV.
Police say the California Highway Patrol assisted in laying down a "spike strip" on Highway One which the suspect drove over puncturing his tires. The SUV he was driving came to a complete stop along the side of the highway, just west from the entrance to the Rancho Maria Golf Course. Police say the male suspect got out of the SUV with a gun and threatened at least two of the Santa Maria Police officers who then fired on the suspect killing him at the scene.
"The suspect exited his vehicle with a firearm in his hand, confronted the Santa Maria Police officers that were there and shots were fired by the Santa Maria Police officers at that time in defense of their lives with the suspect now brandishing a firearm on them", says Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Dept. Lt. Erik Raney, "anytime a law enforcement officer is threatened and feels that deadly force can and could used be against them, then its our duty to protect our own lives and protect the lives of the public by using deadly force in kind."
The Sheriff's Department is now investigating the shooting including if the suspect fired the gun he had and how many rounds the Santa Maria Police officers fired.
People claiming to be family members and friends of the unidentified suspect came out to the intersection of Black Road and Highway One trying to get more information from law enforcement on the scene about the suspect, sobbing family members hoping for the best but fearing the worst about the man that was shot and killed.
As of 11:30pm Thursday night, the name and age of the suspect as well as where he's from had not been released by the Sheriff's Department.
The scene of the shooting is now a crime scene.
The stretch of Highway One between Black Road and Solomon Road near Old Orcutt is expected to remain closed to traffic well into the morning hours on Friday in order to allow investigators to finish collecting evidence and interviewing the officers who were involved in the shooting.
