- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
UPDATE: Officer-involved shooting investigation continues; suspect allegedly went for officer’s gun
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Lake County’s district attorney and his team continued Wednesday night to investigate a fatal shooting that occurred earlier in the day after a man in a stolen vehicle allegedly attacked a California Highway Patrol officer.
District Attorney Don Anderson said the incident that resulted in the death of the 52-year-old man, whose identity was not yet being released, occurred shortly after 2 p.m. along Highway 29 south of Lower Lake near the Twin Lakes Subdivision.
Anderson said the female CHP officer who shot the man is all right. Her name also is not yet being released. Earlier in the day she was reported to have been taken to a local hospital for medical clearance.
Anderson said the officer was on Highway 29 when she saw the man, who was not from Lake County, pulled over on the east side of the roadway.
The officer pulled over and made contact with the man, who was in a vehicle that Anderson said was stolen and had warrants out for his arrest.
Based on the investigation’s findings so far, Anderson said the man attacked the officer and, during the ensuing struggle, attempted to take her gun.
The officer shot the suspect once. Anderson said the male suspect then ran and got into the vehicle and attempted to flee.
However, he lost control of the vehicle and crashed on the west side of the highway, Anderson said.
The man later was taken from the car after firefighters arrived. Anderson did not have details on what measures paramedics on the scene took in treating the man.
The suspect’s body was placed under a yellow tarp under a blue CHP pop up, near a small outbuilding and vineyard a short way off the highway.
Anderson said investigators were preparing to begin examining the man’s body to determine where, exactly, he was shot during the encounter.
The investigation was to continue into the night, Anderson said.
Local residents reported that a stretch of Highway 29 near the shooting scene was closed Wednesday night.
Anderson said his office and the CHP were working together on the investigation, with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office offering its assistance.
The investigation was being carried out under the auspices of a newly updated county fatal incident protocol, Anderson said.
Anderson anticipated releasing more details on the incident in a joint report with CHP on Thursday.
The last fatal shooting involving a local CHP officer in Lake County occurred in October 2006 at the conclusion of a high speed chase near Clearlake Oaks. The suspect was shot five times after he appeared to be about to run over a CHP sergeant.
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