Police kill suspect in Sheriff’s deputy shooting in Salinas, ending nine-hour standoff.

Police killed a suspect believed to have shot a Monterey County Sheriff’s deputy, ending a nine-hour standoff in Salinas on Wednesday, May 31, that prompted a widespread response from local, state and federal law enforcement.

The suspect, who had barricaded themselves in an apartment building near the corner of East Market Street and Sun Street, was fatally shot at around 5:45pm after exchanging gunfire with police, Monterey County officials said. Officials noted that law enforcement had repeatedly attempted to negotiate a peaceful surrender with the suspect throughout the day, to no avail.

“The suspect that we tried to get to peacefully surrender continued firing on our law enforcement agencies,” Sheriff Tina Nieto said in brief comments to the media just after 6pm. “We wanted it to end peacefully. Unfortunately, our job is tough; sometimes it doesn't end the way that we would want it to.”

Nieto declined to name the suspect, citing an ongoing investigation. “We still have to notify the suspect’s family,” she said. “They deserve answers, too.”

The standoff, which prompted a shelter-in-place order in the immediate surrounding area, stemmed from the serving of an eviction notice by the deputy just before 8am Wednesday morning. What was a routine, non-emergency situation became potentially life-threatening when the suspect shot the deputy multiple times around 8:45am, according to officials.

After responding to an officer-down call, police from the Sheriff’s Office and Salinas Police Department rescued the deputy and transported him to Natividad Medical Center, where he underwent surgery for his injuries. Nieto described the unnamed 40-year-old deputy as a 17-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office. “He will survive but he’ll have a long recovery,” she said.

At one point, roughly 150 members of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies were present on the scene, including officials from the FBI, local police departments, and the Monterey County District Attorney’s office. SWAT teams from the Sheriff’s Office, the Salinas Police Department and the FBI’s San Francisco field office were on the ground, with the FBI also providing crisis negotiators. 

City police departments from around the county sent officers to aid in the response, with the likes of the Seaside Police Department providing resources including a remotely operated drone. Those local departments also assisted with patrol and call response responsibilities across the county while the Sheriff’s Office devoted resources to the incident, county officials said, adding that the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office and the California Highway Patrol also provided support.

As the standoff continued over the course of the day, law enforcement maintained a perimeter around the scene, keeping passersby and the assembled media out of the fray. More gunfire was heard around 1:20pm in the afternoon, but had subsided by the time Nieto delivered a 5pm briefing updating the media on the situation. Less than an hour later, several exchanges of gunfire were heard, culminating in the death of the suspect.