Davis police Officer Natalie Corona’s gunman is identified

The gunman who fatally shot Davis Police Officer Natalie Corona in an ambush before taking his own life was identified Saturday as Kevin Douglas Limbaugh, 48, of Davis, according to the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office.

Limbaugh had been involved in a fight in September with a co-worker at Cache Creek Casino Resort, about 40 miles northwest of Sacramento, according to police and court records.

Late Saturday, the resort emailed a statement confirming that Limbaugh had been an employee there and “was involved in an altercation.”

“The incident was reported to the Sheriff’s Office and the suspect’s employment ended immediately thereafter,” according to the email from resort spokesman Mike Traum. “We cannot offer any further details on this personnel matter.”

The Yolo County district attorney’s office had charged Limbaugh with a felony but later reduced it to a misdemeanor as part of a plea deal in October. Limbaugh agreed to surrender firearms in his possession, said Lt. Paul Doroshov of the Davis Police Department.

In November, Limbaugh was ordered to turn in a black .223 Bushmaster AR-15 semiautomatic rifle. Doroshov said Limbaugh went to the station to drop off the firearm.

Before the fight in September, his ex-girlfriend had called police about Limbaugh harassing her.

Doroshov said investigators found two semiautomatic handguns at Limbaugh’s apartment and were trying to determine how he obtained them.

Investigators also found a letter on his bed that accused Davis police of using “sonic waves meant to keep dogs from barking” against him.

In the letter, Limbaugh said he notified internal affairs, the media and the FBI.

“I did my best to appease them, but they have continued for years and I can’t live this way anymore,” the letter read in part.

Doroshov said Limbaugh did not make any formal complaints with the Police Department.

On Thursday evening, Corona, 22, had responded to a crash involving three vehicles at 5th and D streets, taking information from drivers, when witnesses said a man rolled up on a bicycle and began to shoot at Corona. She was struck multiple times and died at UC Davis Medical Center.

Police Chief Darren Pytel described the shooting as an ambush.

Pytel said that after shooting Corona, the gunman reloaded and began shooting in another direction, hitting a firetruck, a house, a bus and a backpack being worn by a person. After reloading a second time, the gunman approached a fire rescue squad, prompting a firefighter to run. The suspect fired, and a bullet struck the firefighter’s boot, he said.

After firing more shots, the gunman fled, eventually barricading himself in his nearby apartment and fatally shooting himself.

Corona started at the Davis Police Department as a part-time employee in 2016, when she was a junior college student. The daughter of a retired Colusa County sheriff’s deputy, she finished her training in December and had been on the job for a few weeks.

ruben.vives@latimes.com

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