A police officer in Guadalupe, California, shot and killed a bystander while firing at a suspect over the weekend, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office officials said.
The shooting happened around 9:40 p.m. Saturday in the small town of Guadalupe, 10 miles east of Santa Maria, the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Sunday.
Officers with the Guadalupe Police Department responded to Birch and Obispo streets after a suspect wanted on an outstanding felony warrant was spotted, authorities said. A bystander — 59-year-old Juan Luis Olvera-Preciado — was sitting in his car when police began firing at the suspect. It was not immediately clear what prompted police to open fire.
Olvera-Preciado was struck and pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
The suspect, who has not been identified, was later arrested and is being investigated by the California Department of Justice, according to sheriff’s officials.
“At this early stage of the investigation, the details that are available for release are that an officer fired his service weapon at the wanted suspect, but instead struck an uninvolved resident who was sitting in a vehicle in the 100 block of Obispo Street,” the statement read.
Guadalupe Police Chief Michael Cash met with Olvera-Preciado’s family, the statement said. He has asked the Sheriff’s Office to investigate, although state law requires that the attorney general investigate all law enforcement shootings that involve the death of an unarmed civilian.
