Live updates: Suspect confirmed dead, additional officers shot near Ramada Drive
Update 5:45 p.m.:
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that there was only one suspect, who is now deceased.
Ramada Drive has reopened, along with Highway 46 West. However, the CHP said Highway 101 traffic is backed up due to heavy police activity.
Update 5:20 p.m.:
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that the suspect is dead, a CHP officer confirmed.
The CHP officer said the shooter had multiple weapons and was taking cover in the riverbed area.
The intersection at Highway 46 is reopening, according to scanner traffic.
Update 4:40 p.m.:
Three officers have been transported to local area hospitals to be treated for wounds and a fourth officer who was injured is being transported to the command posted, according to scanner traffic.
Update 4:15 p.m.:
A suspect has been secured and is unresponsive, according to scanner traffic. The suspect is possibly dead.
Several officers have been wounded, according to the Paso Robles Police Department.
Units are reporting a potential second suspect near Easy Street, south of Volpi Ysabel Road.
Update 4:05 p.m.:
Additional shots were fired in the riverbed at around 4 p.m. At least two additional officers have been shot, according to the scanner.
Officers have eyes on the suspect and he is reportedly not moving. Officers are securing the suspect, according to the scanner.
Officers are moving out of the area and medics are moving in to treat the downed officers. One of the officers sustained a “stomach wound and is being transported to Twin Cities Community Hospital.
A third medical unit is being requested.
At around 2 p.m., an Arroyo Grande Police officer and member of the San Luis Obispo Regional SWAT Team was shot while assisting the San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Office with the continued search for Mason Lira, the active shooter in Paso Robles, according to a city news release sent out Thursday afternoon.
While officers were in the area of Ramada Drive they confronted Lira and shots were exchanged.
As a result, an Arroyo Grande Police Officer was struck by gunfire and suffered a non-life-threatening injury, according to the release.
Update 3:45 p.m.:
Units are being told to leave the riverbed area. No additional shots were fired.
Update 3:30 p.m.:
A reporter at the scene said at least two armored vehicles have arrived at the scene.
There are two helicopters, a fixed-wing aircraft and a low-flying drone circling the area.
The Target on Theater Drive has closed its doors with employees sheltering inside. Farm Supply on Ramada Drive closed as well and moved employees away from the area.
Other businesses in the area have also locked their doors, with some employees and customers inside.
Update, 3:08 p.m.:
Ramada Drive and Main Street will be closed. Medics are setting up a staging area for all units at southbound Ramada Drive and Highway 46 West.
All juveniles on Volpi Ysabel Road have been evacuated, according to scanner traffic.
A Calstar helicopter is en route and the CHP Air 71 fixed wing plane is flying over the scene.
Update, 2:42 p.m.:
The CHP will close Ramada Drive at Highway 46.
The entire town of Templeton, including the area west on Ramada, has been ordered to shelter in place, according to the scanner.
Update, 2:30 p.m.:
An officer was reportedly shot and brought into an Armored Bearcat on the scene, according to the scanner.
Construction workers near the scene said they heard four to five shots.
The construction crew was evacuated from the area.
Units are on the railroad track east of Ramada Drive.
Update, 2:08 p.m.:
According to the police scanner shots have been fired in Paso Robles near Ramada Drive and an officer is “taking fire.”
The suspect is behind the concrete plant on Volpi Ysabel Road, according to the scanner.
Officers have set up a perimeter at Volpi Ysabel Road and Ramada Drive. About 10 to 15 police vehicles are at the scene and more vehicles are en route.
The California Highway Patrol are closing down Highway 46 West from Northbound Highway 101.
Update, 1:30 p.m.:
The shootings in Paso Robles and two days of searching for a homicide suspect have left the city in a state of continued tension.
Some residents expressed concern about safety.
“I feel for law enforcement officers and people that have pretty much been driven crazy because they’ve been locked in,” resident Ginny Taylor said. “Right now, it seems the police are darned if they do, darned if they don’t.”
Businesses in the downtown were serving lunch to customers, and small groups of people totaling about 10 to 15 gathered in the park.
“Is he caught yet?” asked one park visitor who didn’t want to be identified. “It’s scary to think he’s out there.”
Elsewhere Thursday afternoon, helicopters circled over head while law enforcement officers searched the riverbed.
Police and news vehicles were parked near Ramada Drive, and two law enforcement officials stood watch on a dirt road near the riverbed that extends from Ramada Drive.
Police also were searching in Templeton.
Update, 11:40 a.m.:
The Paso Robles Police Department and FBI are processing evidence related to the suspect located at a culvert along the Union Pacific railroad tracks behind Carquest Auto Parts near Park Cinemas.
Update, 11:25 a.m.:
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office has identified the deputy injured in the shootout near the Paso Robles police station early Wednesday.
Nicholas Dreyfus, who records show was formally hired by the department as a deputy in April 2019, underwent surgery for his injuries Wednesday. Sheriff Ian Parkinson said Wednesday that Dreyfus had been shot in the face.
“The surgery was successful,” a news release from the department says. “He is listed in guarded condition, and his prognosis is good.”
Original story:
The search for Mason James Lira, a man suspected of shooting a San Luis Obispo County Sheriff deputy and killing a homeless man in Paso Robles early Wednesday, continued Thursday after officers spent a long night searching the Salinas riverbed, according to the SLO County Sheriff’s Department.
SLO County Sheriff’s Department confirmed as of 9:55 a.m. that numerous agencies are still assisting in the search that spanned throughout overnight in the south end of the city.
SLO County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Tony Cipolla said they were advising people to avoid the riverbed in the Paso Robles area. Lira is considered armed and dangerous, according to a news release.
Lira is described as a 26-year-old homeless man from the Monterey area, according to a sheriff’s news release.
He allegedly attacked the Paso Robles police station around 3:45 a.m. Wednesday and then shot a sheriff’s deputy who responded to the call. Hours later, a 58-year old homeless man was found dead near the Paso Robles train station with a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
The Sheriff’s Office believes the two incidents are related.
Suspect shows up at gas station
Following a wide-ranging investigation of at least five locations in downtown Paso Robles Wednesday, the search continued late that night around the area of Niblick Road from Spring Street to the riverbed behind Kohl’s, the Paso Robles Press reported.
According to the SLO County Sheriff’s Office, at 10:10 p.m. deputies were notified of shots being fired between 2nd Street and 3rd Street in Paso Robles.
At around 2 a.m. , the suspect entered the Chevron gas station on Ramada Drive, one highway exit down from Niblick Road.
According to the Chevron employee, Lira appeared to be wearing the same clothes as seen in previous photos. He was in the store for about seven minutes and bought a couple items. Lira was described as looking tired and mumbling.
Authorities were notified once Lira left the store. He was last seen walking toward the intersection of Highway 46 West and Ramada Drive from the gas station, according to a Chevron employee.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Special Weapons and Tactics team searched the area of the Salinas River bottom from Paso Robles to Templeton overnight, according to SLO County Sheriff watch commander Sgt. Steve Odom.
The California Highway Patrol helicopter H70 and their fixed-wing plane assisted in the search along with Paso Robles Police Department and other agencies.
The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, Kings County Sheriff’s Office, and the FBI are also assisting in the investigation, according to a SLO County Sheriff’s Office Facebook post.
The last official tweet from the Paso Robles Police Department asked that people avoid the area of Spring Street and 1st Street while they conducted a search around 10:45 p.m. Wednesday.
Officials are asking anyone who sees Lira to call 911 immediately.
The Sheriff’s Office released the first images of Lira on Wednesday afternoon.
Surveillance video footage shows him entering the lobby of two Paso Robles businesses: the Piccolo hotel and Street Side Ale House.
Managers at Piccolo and Street Side could not immediately be reached for comment. Cipolla declined to say whether the suspect stayed at the hotel.
Gunman attacked Paso police station
According to the events outlined at Wednesday’s news briefing, at about 3:09 a.m., staff inside the city’s police station noticed a suspicious person outside on surveillance cameras who began shooting a gun at the building.
Parkinson and Paso Robles Police Chief Ty Lewis said the back of the building was struck several times, breaking at least one window, and causing damage to its brick structure. Several vehicles were also shot, they said.
A call went out for assistance to the CHP, Atascadero Police Department, and the Sheriff’s Office.
Two deputies responded to the police station on Park Street in a two-man patrol car at about 4 a.m. and began searching for the suspect.
At about 4:19 a.m., the deputies had exited their vehicle at 10th Street and Riverside Avenue when they were met with gunfire from the suspect, Parkinson said. One deputy, Dreyfus, was struck by a bullet in the head or face, and his partner returned fire as a “brief” gunfight ensued.
Emergency personnel from the Paso Robles Fire Department assisted in evacuating the wounded deputy off the scene and to medical attention.
It was during the following search for the gunman that officers discovered the 58-year-old homeless man who had been shot in the back of the head north of the train station. It’s unclear whether the man was killed before or after the suspect attacked the police station. Police have not identified the man.
Sheriff calls attack an ‘ambush’
County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon that the suspect who opened fire on deputies early in the morning did so in an unprovoked “ambush.”
“This was a direct attack on law enforcement,” Parkinson said. “We are going to catch this person.”
Investigators examined five separate locations in the downtown Paso Robles area: the area of the homicide north of the train station, the spot where the deputy was shot at 10th and Riverside, the nearby location where the suspect shot the deputy from, the Police Department and the DMV.
“We feel very confident the suspect is no longer in our area,” Lewis said at the time.
Parkinson also spoke at length about anti-law enforcement sentiment across the nation following the police killing of George Floyd.
The sheriff cited recent shooting ambushes on police officers and deputies in Oakland and Santa Cruz as examples of violence against officers.
He said that more than a week of responding to peaceful demonstrations across the county has taken a toll on his deputies, many of whom are exhausted, he said.
Asked by a reporter at the conference to speculate whether Wednesday’s shooting was sparked by recent events, Parkinson said that anti-police sentiments have “been the general theme floating around our nation” since Floyd’s death.
“The treatment of law enforcement by some people has been horrendous,” Parkinson said. “(It’s) been very hard on the deputies and police officers.”
Lewis also encouraged the shooter, if he was watching, to turn himself in.
“There’s no need for further bloodshed,” Lewis said. “It’s the right thing to do. We need to end this.”
This story was originally published June 11, 2020 at 9:28 AM.
