Father, Son Police Officers Teamed Up To Help Take Down San Bernardino Terrorists
SAN BERNARDINO (CBSLA.com) — On Dec. 2, 2015, a team of officers found Syed Farook and his wife and trailed them from Redlands to San Bernardino.
CBS2's Crystal Cruz said two San Bernardino officers – a father and son working together – were part of that team.
"How egregious his actions were, it was pretty clear to me he probably wasn't going to go down without a fight" said Sgt. Gary Shuelke.
The veteran officer was correct. And riding shotgun with him that day, his son, rookie officer Ryan Shuelke.
"I said 'Here we go Ryan, here we go,' " said Gary.
Ryan, who was supposed to be off that day, jumped on the clock and into his dad's car.
It was the first time either man fired a weapon in the line of duty.
"As soon as we stop, I see Syed get out and start shooting at the deputy who'd stopped further up for us and naturally I jumped out, put my door open and start shooting at Syed from the passenger door," says Ryan.
The rookie had only been on the job a year.
"As I was engaging, I could hear my dad yell at me to get better cover because I all had was the passenger door. It's weird, I couldn't hear gu shots but I could hear [my dad] yelling at me," Ryan said.
"Twenty-five years -- this is my first officer-involved shooting," said Gary.
"I didn't have that protective feeling that you would think a father would have for his son necessarily because his actions when we pulled up he grabbed the rifle without hesitation and got out and into the gunfight. I knew that he was going to be OK," Gary said.
On this anniversary, their thoughts with everyone who wasn't OK. All 14 of them.
"[It's a] sad day for San Bernardino because of what happened but also a very proud day for law enforcement in the way conducted themselves and their response to the entire incident," Gary said.
The officers fired a reported 400 rounds at the shooters. The terrorists returned about 80 rounds, striking one officer in the leg, and he is back to work.