Suspect in ambush on California deputy dies in shootout with police
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The man suspected of ambushing and shooting a California sheriff’s deputy is dead after a shootout with police, authorities said Thursday.
Mason James Lira, 26, was accused of ambushing and seriously injuring a San Luis Obispo sheriff’s deputy and killing a transient man Wednesday in Paso Robles. The attacks sent off a massive manhunt in the central California Coast that ended Thursday in the shootout.
While Tony Cipolla, a San Luis Obispo County sheriff’s
spokesman, confirmed Lira’s death, the surrounding details were not
immediately available. Lira’s father says his son had several mental
illnesses and did not take his medication.
Three officers were
injured as police attempted to take Lira into custody Thursday afternoon
at a chaotic scene in a riverbed, with residents in a 2-mile (3.22
kilometers) radius locked down.
An Arroyo Grande officer was
struck by gunfire, while officers with the California Highway Patrol and
Kings County Sheriff’s Office suffered unspecified wounds. All three
are expected to survive their injuries.
The manhunt for Lira began
at dawn Wednesday, when authorities said he opened fire on the Paso
Robles police station. Two sheriff’s deputies heard gunshots and
responded but didn’t see the attacker until they were outside their
patrol car and under fire.
Deputy Nicholas Dreyfus, 28, was hit
in the face. His partner fired back and dragged Dreyfus behind a police
car. Dreyfus, who was able to radio that he’d been shot, underwent
surgery Thursday and was in guarded condition.
While scores of
officers searched for Lira, they received a report of a body near a
train station and found a 58-year-old man shot to death on the tracks.
He appeared to be a transient who was camping out overnight. Police
believe Lira was responsible for the killing.
Lira’s father told The Associated Press he thinks the shooting at the police station might have been a suicide attempt.
Jose
Lira said his son had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, Asperger’s
syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He said his son
has been in and out of jail and treatment centers, and often thinks he
is a special agent or a soldier.
“He lives in a fantasy world,” Jose Lira said. “He doesn’t have a beef with the police.”
Soon
after Jose Lira spoke to the AP, authorities said an Arroyo Grande
police officer helping with the search was wounded in an exchange of
gunfire with Lira at about 3 p.m.
Later, after a second exchange of gunfire, the Paso Robles Police Department tweeted “Suspect down. Several officers wounded.”