SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ Two California Highway Patrol officers and a Sacramento County Sheriff's Department deputy were shot Wednesday, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department reported.
Three suspects were arrested in connection with the incident, which began Wednesday morning at the Ramada Inn on Auburn Boulevard with a stolen vehicle investigation, said Sgt. Tony Turnbull, Sheriff's Department spokesman.
A vehicle theft task force consisting of CHP officers, sheriff's deputies and probation officers had gone to the hotel parking lot. Two suspects, both women, then led law enforcers on a chase that ended in the Laguna area, where the women were taken into custody, Turnbull said.
Officers then checked on other possible suspects in a room at the Ramada Inn. When they knocked on a hotel room door, a man opened fire through the door and struck two CHP officers, Turnbull said. Additional deputies responded on the back side of the room. The male suspect, wielding a high-powered rifle, engaged in a shootout that injured a deputy.
The suspect managed to get into a car and escape on Fulton Avenue. He turned onto El Camino Avenue and crashed near Watt Avenue. He then exchanged gunfire again with officers. He was struck and then arrested.
The suspect and the officers were taken to area hospitals. Their condition is not known.
The incident unfolded in a part of Fulton Avenue that is lined with used car lots and related businesses.
At Primetime Autos, a used car lot on Auburn Boulevard near the Ramada, Raj Singhl said he heard "a lot of gunshots and cars driving by."
"Then the cops came to our shop and said, 'Stay down and keep it locked.'"
That was about 11:45 a.m., Singh said. He said he first heard two or three individual gunshots, then a volley of rapid fire.
He said after hearing the shots, he went outside, where he had employees working, to make sure they were safe. The police told them to get inside. They ducked behind some cars at first, then went in and locked the doors.
Several major roadways and intersections near the shooting scene remain closed indefinitely, including the intersection of Fulton Avenue and Auburn Boulevard, as officers from around the region respond to the scene.
