Police Officer Killed as He Looked for Gun
A rookie police officer was fatally wounded early Sunday in a gunfire attack as he searched for a gun along the side of the freeway, authorities said.
Officer James Williams, 41, was shot once in the chest around midnight, the bullet piercing his bulletproof vest, police spokesman Sgt. Arturo Bautista said. Williams died after being taken to Highland Hospital in critical condition.
His partner was spared serious injury when a bullet ricocheted off the handcuffs hanging from his belt, Bautista said.
The two officers were searching the side of Interstate 580 for a gun reportedly tossed out a car window during a chase earlier that night, he said. Other officers had already arrested the suspects when they sent Williams and his partner to retrieve the gun, police said.
Police don’t believe the two incidents are related. Investigators later found the shotgun Williams may have been looking for.
Williams had been on the job only 10 weeks and was still in training, Bautista said. He is survived by a wife and three children in Pinole.
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