Suspect In Shooting, Killing Of Sacramento Police Officer Tara O'Sullivan Surrenders
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Authorities say the person suspected of shooting and killing Sacramento police officer Tara O'Sullivan in North Sacramento on Wednesday has surrendered. He has been identified as 45-Year-Old Adel Sambrano Ramos.
Sacramento police say 26-year-old officer Tara O'Sullivan was shot and killed in the line of duty while helping a woman remove her belongings from inside a home on Redwood Avenue, near El Camino Avenue.
.@GoodDaySac gunman taken into custody after police officer was shot and killed in North Sacramento @CBSSacramento pic.twitter.com/QiRyPK2dsY
— Dan Mitchinson (@dmitchinson) June 20, 2019
Ramos reportedly shot O'Sullivan with what officials are calling a "high-powered rifle," then kept firing – barricading himself inside the home.
Crews desperately tried to reach O'Sullivan, who was down in a yard behind the house, but heavy gunfire kept them back for nearly an hour. Multiple officers returned fire, police say, and neighbors in the area were evacuated.
An armored vehicle moved-in a little under an hour after O'Sullivan was shot and got her out. She was later pronounced dead after she was transported to the hospital.
Police say the suspect eventually surrendered just before 2 a.m. Thursday.
O'Sullivan was a Sacramento State graduate and was hired by the Sacramento Police Department in January 2018. She joined the academy just a few months later.
It is with a broken heart that we have to share with all of you that earlier today we lost one of our own. While on a call for service in North Sacramento, Officer Tara O'Sullivan was shot and killed. She gave her young life while protecting our community pic.twitter.com/MXr7C4M5qJ
— Sacramento Police Department (@SacPolice) June 20, 2019
Sac State President Robert S. Nelson mourned the loss of O'Sullivan in a statement released on Thursday.
"Our hearts go out to Tara's family, friends, classmates, and fellow officers. This exceptional young officer will be remembered by the Hornet Family for her intelligence, commitment to public service, and bravery," Nelson said.
According to the Pleasant Hill Police Officers' Association, O'Sullivan was a 2011 graduate of College Park High School and was a police explorer with the Pleasant Hill and Martinez police departments.
Nelson noted that O'Sullivan was part of the first graduating class of Sac State's Law Enforcement Candidate Scholars Program. She also received a Bachelor of Arts in Child Development.
O'Sullivan's death marks the first officer killed in the line of duty for the Sacramento Police Department in 20 years. Officer William Bean, Jr. was fatally shot while responding to a traffic stop on Rio Linda Boulevard and Grand Avenue in February 1999.
The suspect, Dundell Wright, was later convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.