ROSEVILLE, Calif. — Police said a wanted parolee fired first in a shootout that left six officers injured and led to an hours-long standoff in a suburban Sacramento city before he surrendered.
Roseville police spokesman Lt. Cal Walstad said that one officer with a jaw wound and a federal agent shot in the leg remain hospitalized Saturday in serious condition. Four other Roseville officers injured by shrapnel were treated and released.
The suspect in the violent confrontation is a validated gang member with a criminal record that includes assault and carjacking. Samuel Nathan Duran, 32, was taken to the Placer County jail Saturday after being treated for scrapes and cuts after surrendering just after midnight.
“Last night our community experienced what can happen in any when a violent wanted felon is completely committed to not going back to jail,” Police Chief Daniel Hahn said Saturday.
Duran was being held on a parole violation, but Hahn said he expected multiple charges of attempted murder would be added.
Duran’s aunt told the Sacramento Bee they did not believe he fired the shots that struck the federal agent and that the police response to the incident was excessive.
“This is out of proportion — (Duran’s) a parolee,” Donna Sandoval said. “My nephew isn’t a murderer for all this … to happen. They shot first at my house.”
State corrections officials told The Associated Press that Duran has a record stretching back to at least 2002, when he was convicted of possessing a controlled substance. In 2009, he was sentenced to four years for assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest and attempted carjacking.
Records show he was paroled last in April, but that the parole was revoked in July.
Hahn said officers on an unrelated gang enforcement mission recognized Duran as a wanted parolee when they saw him riding a bike Friday afternoon.
A federal agent embedded with the Roseville police department tried to chase Duran on foot, but was shot in the leg. Officials said Duran was armed with a handgun but wouldn’t specify the type.
Hahn asserted that Duran opened fire when he was confronted.
Duran quickly holed up in a nearby house, and a mother and child inside escaped out a side door.
The shootout sparked panic and chaos in the typically quiet middle class suburb of about 120,000 that is 20 miles northeast of the state capitol. Walstad described multiple shooting sites as the suspect tried to escape a swarm of law enforcement agents, and reporters on the scene described hearing several volleys of gunfire.
As officers tried to capture the suspect before his surrender, helicopters were circling overhead and armored vehicles and other police cars flocked to the area.
At least 15 homes were evacuated, and the area remained a crime scene Saturday, Walstad said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the Homeland Security Investigations agent was stable and in good spirits after being taken to Sutter Roseville Medical Center.
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