Full Notification

ELK GROVE, Calif. (AP) — A California Highway Patrol officer was shot twice and wounded Sunday on a highway south of Sacramento, and moments later local police shot and killed the suspected gunman as he sat in his overturned car with two dogs, authorities said.

The officer, who has been with the CHP for less than two years, was hit once in the wrist and once in the hip or abdomen, said Deputy Jason Ramos of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, whose homicide detectives are investigating the shootings. He underwent surgery at a hospital in South Sacramento and was expected to survive.

The suspect fired several rounds from a handgun at two CHP officers during a traffic stop on southbound Highway 99 in front of a large auto dealership in Elk Grove, Ramos said. The wounded officer had called the second for backup.

The officers returned fire as the suspect fled in his car, which flipped over and landed on the driver's side on the highway's shoulder almost immediately.

"He only made it about 50 feet or so," Ramos said.
Elk Grove police officers then arrived and while one helped the two CHP officers, the rest surrounded the car of the suspect, who was sitting upright and moving inside, Ramos said.

The man did not respond to several orders to show his hands and one police officer fired two rounds into the car, Ramos said.
Officers had to pull the two dogs from the car first for the safety of paramedics, Ramos said, but when they finally reached the suspect he was declared dead at the scene.

The CHP officer who was not wounded was a four-year veteran of the department, and the officer who fired the fatal shots has been with the Elk Grove Police Department for five years, Ramos said.

Both will be placed on administrative leave as required, Ramos said.
The names of the suspect and the officers were not immediately released.