SLO County saw 5 fatal officer-involved shootings in roughly a year. Here’s a rundown
An officer-involved shooting in Paso Robles early Tuesday marked the fifth time in roughly a year that shootouts involving local law enforcement agencies have resulted in deaths.
Members of the San Luis Obispo Regional SWAT team shot and killed an armed man, identified as 32-year-old Steven Adam Calderon of Los Angeles, who had barricaded himself in an apartment and fired at officers, the Paso Robles Police Department said.
San Luis Obispo County has seen five fatal officer-involved shootings since the summer of 2020, resulting in the deaths of a total of five suspects and one police officer.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office has completed follow-up investigations for two of the fatal shootings — an incident in Paso Robles in June 2020 and a separate shooting in Templeton that September, according to Tony Cipolla, Sheriff’s Office spokesman.
A third case, involving a shootout with law enforcement officers in Nipomo in August, is being prepared for review by the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s office, Cipolla said.
The District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the cases as part of its routine assessment of officer-involved shootings, with the June 2020 shooting report beginning final review, said Eric Dobroth, an agency spokesman.
Dobroth said he anticipates that the review of the August shooting “will be completed before the end of the month.”
Paso Robles manhunt ends with suspect’s death
After a grueling two-day manhunt, police shot and killed 26-year-old Mason Lira in Paso Robles on June 11, 2020.
Lira, a homeless man who mostly lived in the Monterey area, died after a shootout with police from multiple agencies in the riverbed area along Ramada Drive between Templeton and San Luis Obispo.
The manhunt for Lira began after he ambushed the Paso Robles Police Department, killed 58-year-old homeless man James Harding Watson, described by friends and family as a “very gentle and loving guy,” near the city’s train station, and Lira shot San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office deputy Nicholas Dreyfus. Dreyfus was treated for non-fatal wounds.
An Arroyo Grande officer was hit by a bullet hit in the calf and suffered a non-life threatening injury during the search for Lira in the riverbed.
A California Highway Patrol officer was shot in the chest, though his bullet-proof vest saved him from a more serious injury. And a Kings County deputy was shot in the leg while attempting to help the fallen CHP officer. Each of the officers survived their injuries.
Lira’s father, Jose Lira, said his son had long suffered from mental illness.
Deadly shootout at Nipomo grocery store
Bakersfield resident Scott Huffman was killed Aug. 24, 2020, in a shootout with law enforcement officers after he opened fire outside the Vons grocery store in Nipomo.
Huffman, 42, fired at least 20 rounds into the parking lot near the grocery store, into the nearby street and into the Vons gas station before he was shot and killed by CHP officers and Sheriff’s Office deputies, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said.
Law enforcement officers fired at least five rounds at Huffman during the shooting, Parkinson said. No bystanders or law enforcement officers were injured during the incident, he said.
Authorities suspect Huffman may have been suffering a “mental health crisis” at the time of the shooting, Parkinson said then.
White supremacist ambushes deputies in Templeton
On Sept. 24, 2020, a suspect identified by the Sheriff’s Office as a white supremacist was shot and killed near the Templeton Cemetery on Theatre Drive.
Christopher Straub, 38, of Templeton, was killed after authorities spotted his car in Templeton and found him walking nearby.
Straub, who had an outstanding warrant for his arrest and a history of weapons charges, ambushed two deputies and fired multiple shots, injuring one, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Straub had been a repeat offender with 28 bookings in California jails and at least two prison sentences, Parkinson said at a news conference at the time.
SLO police officer, suspect slain
San Luis Obispo police Det. Luca Benedetti, 37, was shot and killed by Edward “Eddie” Giron on May 10 as he and five other officers served a search warrant on Giron’s apartment related to what officials say were several commercial burglaries.
Giron, 35, also died in the shootout. He was shot 14 times, including a fatal, apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to a private autopsy conducted on his family’s behalf.
Another San Luis Obispo Police Department officer, Det. Steve Orozco, was injured in the incident.
Giron’s friends and family said that they repeatedly warned San Luis Obispo police about his spiraling mental illness and that he owned firearms.
SWAT team kills man at Paso Robles apartment
Paso Robles Police Department officers were dispatched to an apartment complex near the 2400 block of Branch Creek Circle in Paso Robles at approximately 4 p.m. Monday after the man, a 32-year-old Los Angeles resident, “discharged a firearm from the balcony of an apartment,” according to a news release from the agency.
“The suspect also allegedly pointed the same gun at his girlfriend and threatened to shoot her,” police said in the release.
According to police, the man barricaded himself in the apartment and “fired several shots at officers while they attempted to negotiate with him.”
“Unfortunately, this event ended tragically when the suspect ignored officer commands and reached for his gun,” Paso Robles police Chief Ty Lewis said in the release. “The officers were left with no choice but to defend themselves.”
Police said SWAT medics and Paso Robles Emergency Services personnel treated the suspect but “he ultimately succumbed to his wounds” at approximately 1:15 a.m. Tuesday.
This story was originally published July 7, 2021 at 9:07 AM.
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