A Northern California man investigating possible intruders in his grandparents’ yard fired shots into the neighboring property — and almost struck deputies who were engaged in a foot pursuit, the sheriff’s office said.
Related Articles
Prop 36 aims to force drug offenders into treatment. Would it help solve homelessness?
NY judge rules Diddy rape accuser must reveal name or lawsuit will be dismissed
Hip-hop producer Metro Boomin is accused of rape in lawsuit
Murder among ‘furries’: SoCal man on trial in killing of teen girl’s parents
‘Very much untrue’: Pittsburg councilmembers respond to crime rate claims
The shooting happened around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 31, in an unincorporated area of San Joaquin County near Stockton’s southeast edge.
The two deputies were not injured, but one bullet struck a wall “within feet” of where they had taken cover, the sheriff’s office said in describing what it termed vigilante action.
The deputies had been called to the neighborhood by an alarm at a Pick-N-Pull salvage yard. When they arrived, they reportedly saw three people running from the business and pursued them on foot along a canal that separates the Pick-N-Pull from a Buddhist temple.
At one point during the pursuit, they were stopped next to a concrete wall on the temple’s property when they were fired upon, the sheriff’s office said.
Body cam video of the incident records both deputies yelling, “Hey! Sheriff’s office!” A voice from across the wall responds, “Sorry! Sorry!”
The shooter told the deputies he was looking for people who “came running across my grandma’s house right now.” He was armed with what the sheriff’s office identified as an AR-15.
The sheriff’s report said the homeowner on the property west of the temple had “received an alert from a security camera at his front door. Instead of contacting law enforcement, he called his grandson, who armed himself with an AR-15 and began searching the area in a golf cart.”
The grandson, whose age was not released, was booked on charges including assault with a deadly weapon, possession of an assault weapon, possession of a high-capacity magazine, and possession of a silencer.