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Gunman killed in Paso Robles vineyard shoot-out with police

Greta Mart/KCBX
Police blocked off downtown Paso Robles while dozens of police officers searched for the suspect.

BREAKING NEWS 5:30 PM: In Paso Robles, the suspect is dead and three police officers injured in a shoot out that took place in the 4 p.m. hour in a vineyard. The shot police officers were taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. 

According to Tony Cipolla of the San Luis Obispo County’s Sheriff’s Office, the suspect of Wednesday’s shooting in downtown Paso Robles was tracked down Thursday afternoon in the area of Ramada Drive and Highway 46 West. "Dozens and dozens" of police officers set up a perimeter and announced to the suspect to drop his weapons, said Cipolla, but the suspect instead exchanged gunfire and was fatally shot. The three injured officers are from Arroyo Grande PD, King City Sheriff's Office and the CHP. The shelter-in-place issued Thursday mid-afternoon has not yet been officially lifted, as police continue to process the scene, says Cipolla. 

6/11/20 3 p.m. 

The Paso Robles Police Department is reporting shots fired in the area of Highway 46 West and Ramada. Police are asking people to stay out of the area. The Paso Robles Police Department SWAT team has continued to make a systematic search for the gunman who killed a man and shot a deputy on Wednesday. Caltrans has closed on- and off-ramps in the area. Traffic is heavy on Highway 101 in the area due to major police activity, and as people try to leave the area Templeton residents are under a shelter-in-place order. We will provide updates as they become available.

6/10/20 9 P.M.

Police have identified a suspect in Wednesday's shootings in Paso Robles—a 26-year-old man the SLO County Sheriff's Office describes as a transient man from the Monterey area who went on a "shooting spree," murdering one man and seriously injuring a police deputy. That deputy has been identified as 28-year-old Nicholas Dreyfus, with the county sheriff department's Templeton station since 2018. On Thursday morning, the Sheriff's Office says Dreyfus "underwent surgery for his injuries. The surgery was successful. He is listed in guarded condition and his prognosis is good."

6/10/20 6 P.M.

Several downtown streets remain blocked off this afternoon in Paso Robles, due to an ongoing police investigation into two shootings and a search for an armed gunman. While the gunman remains at large and is suspected to have left the area hours ago, the city’s police chief says a portion of the downtown will be locked down for several more hours as detectives process evidence at various places.

Just after three a.m., says SLO County Sheriff Ian Parkinson, a dispatcher at the Paso Robles police station heard and saw on surveillance cameras the firing of gunshots at the station. Law enforcement from around the area responded, among them two deputies who arrived around 4 a.m. to join the search for the shooter. When the pair got out of their patrol car, the gunman ambushed one of the deputies and shot him in the face.

His partner returned fire at the suspect before carrying the injured officer to safety, where he was then airlifted to an out-of-area trauma center with extensive injuries. He is currently in serious but stable condition, although Parkinson said “he’s not out of the woods yet.”

The Paso Robles police chief said at a 3 p.m. press conference that detectives will be looking at the extensive footage captured by businesses around downtown as part of the investigation. 20 to 25 detectives are working on the case and the FBI is assisting with the case.

Meanwhile, a 58-year-old male suspected to have been homeless and camping out nearby, said Parkinson, was found with a fatal shot to the back of the head on the Paso Robles Amtrak train station platform.

The sheriff's office says it believes the two shootings are connected. 

Those with any information on the suspect are asked to call 9-1-1. An investigation is ongoing and KCBX News will update this post as more information becomes available.

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