Deputy Fatally Shot at Scene of Apparent Home Invasion

A Riverside County sheriff’s deputy was fatally wounded Friday when he responded to an apparent home invasion robbery, and one of three suspects was later shot to death by authorities after fleeing to a nearby riverbed.

Scores of sheriff’s deputies and Riverside police searched into the night for the two surviving suspects, cordoning off two square miles of homes and scouring the thick brush along the Santa Ana River.

The incident began about 1:30 p.m., when a neighbor called the Sheriff’s Department about a suspicious open door in the 9100 block of Kennedy Street in this unincorporated community across the river from west Riverside.

The responding deputy called for backup when he arrived. Neighbors reported that they then heard two bursts of gunfire. The deputy was able to make a radio call that he had been shot, and the backup unit found him near the front door of the residence.

Squad cars sped to the scene, and deputies quickly sealed off the neighborhood.

“We are turning over every leaf in this area,” Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Sgt. Perri Feinstein-Portales said. “We are confident [that the two surviving suspects] are still in this area.”

As the three alleged robbers fled to the brush, they apparently set fires to create a blind. By 9 p.m., 10 acres were burning in the river bottom. A helicopter dumped water on the flames, but firefighters watched from a distance.

Authorities said one man, armed with a rifle, was standing on the sandy riverbed, exchanging gunfire with deputies, when he was shot about 4:20 p.m. Officers carried his shirtless body across the river and attempted to revive him without success. He died at the scene.

The slain deputy, whose name has not been released, died during surgery at Riverside Community Hospital earlier in the afternoon.

At the scene of the alleged robbery, the house’s lone occupant was led away by authorities, appearing to be wrapped in plastic or tape. Deputies said she had been injured but did not elaborate.

More than 75 Riverside County deputies and Riverside police, many heavily armed and wearing black SWAT uniforms, blanketed the area, going house to house in their hunt for the suspects.

Residents were advised to keep their windows and doors locked.