California officer shot dead in ambush

Gutzwiller responded to a 911 call concerning a suspicious van with firearms and bomb-making materials parked off the road near Jamison Creek and followed the vehicle when the incident occurred. The suspect was wounded during the arrest and transported to a hospital. The residents were forced to evacuate their homes during the incident.

San Francisco: An officer was shot dead and two others were injured in an ambush in Northern California's Santa Cruz County, according to officials.

Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, 38, was killed after a suspect attacked him and other officers in Ben Lomond of Santa Cruz County on Saturday, Sheriff Jim Hart said at a press conference, adding that a second deputy and a California Highway Patrol officer were injured.

Gutzwiller responded to a 911 call concerning a suspicious van with firearms and bomb-making materials parked off the road near Jamison Creek, he said.

Deputies followed the vehicle until it stopped at a home on Waldeberg Avenue in Ben Lomond, he added.

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"As deputies began investigating, they were ambushed with gunfire and multiple improvised explosives," Hart noted.

The suspect, identified by Hart as Steven Carrillo, was wounded during the arrest and transported to a hospital.

He would be charged with first-degree murder.

The residents were forced to evacuate their homes during the incident.

Officials with the district attorney's office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are investigating the case.

(IANS)