How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
NORTH COAST, Calif. – The five-week search for the man suspected of killing a Fort Bragg City Councilman and a land trust employee in August came to a deadly conclusion on Saturday.
Aaron James Bassler, 35, of Fort Bragg, who had eluded a massive manhunt since the Aug. 27 shooting of Councilman Jere Melo, was shot on Saturday by Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies taking part in the search, according to Mendocino County Sheriff's Capt. Kurt Smallcomb.
Smallcomb said Bassler was spotted as he walked down a logging road.
The Sacramento County team members subsequently shot and killed Bassler, Smallcomb said.
The search for Bassler – who was linked not just to Melo's fatal shooting but to the Aug. 11 murder of Mendocino Land Trust staffer Matthew Coleman – was the largest in Mendocino County history, according to Sheriff Tom Allman.
The search had intensified over the past week, after Bassler fired on a three-member team from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, as Lake County News has reported.
The confrontation between Bassler and the three-member team occurred in an area near Northspur Road – located 14 miles east of Fort Bragg and 10 miles northwest of Willits – where a series of vacation cabin burglaries had been linked to Bassler, officials reported.
Bassler fired on the team on Thursday shortly before noon in a densely wooded and brushy area, appearing to have flanked the men as he did Melo weeks earlier. Allman said the men returned fire at Bassler, who was about 100 meters away.
He disappeared, only to reappear and open fire again. Allman said the Alameda County team returned a total of 10 shots before Bassler once again vanished into the woods that he has explored since he was a child.
A surveillance camera had captured an image of Bassler at one of the Northspur Road area cabins, holding a high-caliber assault rifle, which Allman released on Monday.
Bassler was believed to have taken a .22 caliber rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun during one of the burglaries.
On Wednesday a California Department of Justice criminalist confirmed that a fingerprint found at the scene of one of the burglaries was Bassler's.
The search has involved multiple state, local and federal agencies, including assistance from the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said at a Wednesday press conference that Lake County Sheriff Frank Rivero called him after hearing of Bassler's confrontation with the Alameda County team and pledged additional resources.
Lake County Sheriff's Capt. James Bauman reported on Friday that a team of seven Lake County Sheriff’s SWAT members, a sheriff’s K-9 team and two supervisors were deployed to Mendocino County on Thursday to join the search.
Allman had said that the search for Bassler would not conclude without a resolution.
The operation had stretched Mendocino County's resources, with Allman reporting that the search had cost nearly $300,000. It had been aided by donations of hotel rooms, food and supplies from community members and businesses.
It also took its toll on agency members like Smallcomb, who has been an active part of the search around the clock for more than a month.
On Saturday evening Smallcomb said he was in emotional shock in the wake of the day's developments.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .
