Calaveras County Deputy Fatally Shoots Armed Suspect In Arnold

ARNOLD (CBS13) - Responding to a call of a burglary in progress, a Calaveras County Sheriff's deputy shot and killed an armed suspect in normally uneventful Arnold on Thursday morning.

The driver of a local gas company had radioed his office that a male subject flagged him down claiming that his house was being burglarized. However, the subject then reportedly grabbed the driver while waiving a handgun and then went into the wooded area between homes in the rural, residential Blue Lake Springs neighborhood.

Deputies were sent to the area while dispatch received further phone calls regarding a subject with similar description on Moran Road armed with a gun. Several subsequent callers heard shots fired in the neighborhood and a caller reported seeing a male suspect firing a gun near the intersection of Moran Road and Dawyn Drive.

When the responding deputy arrived on scene, the suspect reportedly fired at the officer. The deputy ordered the suspect to drop his weapon, but the suspect reportedly pointed his firearm at the deputy before moving toward two homes in the area. At that point, the deputy fired one round and struke the man, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

"A shooting, yeah crazy," said Arnold resident Dave Emmett. "Unbelievable."

The deputy was not injured during this incident and per standard policy is being placed on administrative leave during the department's investigation.

Release of the suspect's name is pending positive identification and notification of next of kin notification.