Violent white supremacists in SLO County? That’s another reason we need police

Thursday’s gun battle in Templeton between sheriff’s deputies and a man authorities described as a white supremacist gang member is a wake-up call in so many ways.

First, it reminds us once again of how critically we need law enforcement — and how dangerous the job can be, even in normally quiet and peaceful communities like Templeton.

One deputy, Richard “Ted” Lehnhoff, was wounded in the leg during the initial shootout, after some astute police work set events in motion that ended with the suspect’s death.

Deputy Lehnhoff was out patrolling on Thursday morning when he spotted a black Ford Mustang parked on the side of Theatre Drive.

No one was inside the car, which had broken down, but when Lehnhoff checked the records, he found it was registered to 38-year-old Christopher Straub, a dangerous felon well-known to SLO County law enforcement.

Straub had a long history of weapons-related offenses and had served multiple prison terms. He had a felony warrant out for his arrest, and he was considered armed and dangerous.

With that unsettling information in hand, Lehnhoff continued driving north, and in short order encountered Straub walking on Cemetery Road.

When the deputy tried to talk to him, Straub took off running into the nearby cemetery, where Sheriff Ian Parkinson said he hid behind shrubbery before opening fire on Lehnhoff and another deputy who arrived to help.

After shooting Lehnhoff, Straub ran into a nearby vineyard and back to his car. That’s where other arriving deputies found him, apparently trying to open the passenger side door to get to the other weapons inside.

“That was when the second shooting occurred,” Parkinson said at the news conference, and Straub was killed.

Deputies avert a tragedy

As bad as this episode was, with a suspect dead and a deputy injured, it’s easy to think of scenarios that could have been much, much worse.

Straub was heavily armed — in addition to the handgun he carried, he had a stockpile of eight guns and 1,000 rounds of ammunition in his car. Authorities who searched his house found gun manufacturing equipment there along with a magazine drum with “f--- all cops” written on it.

What if Straub had used that arsenal on his own terms, targeting officers or the public in a crowded place? What if the other deputies had arrived even a few seconds later and Straub had reached one of the assault rifles?

Parkinson noted there were plenty of indications that Straub had no intention of ever surrendering to authorities.

“There was a concern he knew he was potentially going back to prison and did not want to and had made statements that he intended to shoot it out with the police,” the sheriff said.

With the weapons Straub had amassed, it could have been a blood bath.

Suspect’s gang affiliation

Parkinson said Straub had been on the radar of the county’s gang task force, though the sheriff did not identify the group, other than to say it was “centered out of San Luis Obispo.”

That’s wake-up call No. 2.

Violent white supremacist gang members aren’t exactly something associated with laid-back San Luis Obispo County.

There have been signs of overt racism — graffiti, blackface, Confederate flags — but violent white supremacists manufacturing guns?

Well, now we know. They’re here.

Parkinson told reporters that white supremacists aren’t necessarily “targeting minorities for their crimes.”

That may be true, but they are still hate groups, and they have no business being in San Luis Obispo County — or anywhere, for that matter.

Why we need police

That brings us to wake-up call No. 3: Police need a decent level of funding.

We’ve heard lots of discussion about cutting budgets for police and sheriffs, so as to invest more in mental health, homeless services and other social programs that could help keep people out of police custody in the first place.

Social programs do need more funding. They’re often the first to be cut in times of financial crisis, and the last to have funding restored.

But it’s a balancing act, and police can’t be “defunded” to the extent that they are no longer able to function safely. Because the results could literally be the difference between life and death.

Do we want to cut back on staffing to the extent that there are no deputies available to respond when one of their fellow officers is shot?

No. We can’t do that.

We understand, this is not an easy time to be in law enforcement, when horrible actions by officers in other departments — such as the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor — reflect terribly on the entire profession.

But incidents like this one in Templeton — along with the recent shootings in Nipomo and Paso Robles — remind us that police are willing to put their lives at risk to protect us every day.

We salute Deputy Lehnhoff for the savvy skills and powers of observation that led him to identify a critical situation when he saw it.

We are happy to know Lehnhoff is recovering and in good spirits, according to the Sheriff’s Office. That’s excellent news; we wish him a speedy recovery.

We also salute the other deputies who showed up in short order and put a stop to Straub’s violence before any other innocent people were hurt or killed.

For that, these deputies deserve our support and gratitude. We thank them and all the others in law enforcement who put their lives on the line every day.