One Officer Killed, Another Injured
POSTED: 8:06 am PST January 11, 2005
UPDATED: 9:36 am PST January 11, 2005
CERES, Calif. -- A Marine based at Camp Pendleton shot and killed one police officer and injured another before being shot to death by hours later.
Sgt. Howard Stevenson died from the multiple gun shots he suffered Sunday evening, becoming the first member of the Modesto Police Department to die in the line of duty. Officer Sam Ryno was in critical condition in a hospital after also being shot several times.
Police are trying to determine if the shooter, 19-year-old Andres Raya of Modesto, wanted to die in what authorities call "suicide by cop." Raya's family told police that he was afraid he would be sent back to Iraq for a third stint of duty, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
"We're still in the very early stages of investigating this," said Deputy Jason Woodman of the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department. "We still have a long way to go."
Raya was supposed to have reported for duty to Camp Pendleton on Sunday after taking holiday leave but instead left the San Diego area Saturday night to return home.
The incident began when someone at a liquor store reported to police that a man had come into the store with a shotgun and left on foot.
Ryno, 50, arrived on scene and was fired upon by Raya and hit, police said. Stevenson, 39, then showed up and was shot twice in the head, according to police, before Raya fled.
Video taken from a security camera aimed at the liquor store was broadcast by NBC 7/39. The tape show a person, presumably Raya, standing in front of the liquor store. At one point, the person raises a rifle or shotgun to his shoulder and aims it.
Raya was tracked down by other officers who converged to the area. Police say he initiated a second gunfight, during which he was shot and killed.
Woodman said the rifle Raya used was illegal and had not been issued to him by the military.
Several houses in the neighborhood, north of Ceres High School, were evacuated, and the area was kept locked down for about two-and-a-half hours, officers said. Officers went door to door, asking residents to lock their doors and turn off their lights, said Vito Fontana, 63, a local resident who watched the police in action.
Stevenson had been a member of the Ceres police force for 20 years and is survived by his wife and three children.
Copyright 2005 by NBCSandiego.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved.
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