http://www.redding.com/news/2008/dec/02/report-chp-officer-shot-tehama-county/?partner=RSS
GERBER -- A man suspected of shooting a California Highway Patrol officer was found dead of a gunshot wound on the kitchen floor of his heavily armed house tonight.
The man is believed to be Jim Long, 60, Tehama County Sheriff Clay Parker said.
"We have no reason not to believe it's him," Parker said shortly after deputies and other officers ended the nine-hour standoff that began when Long fired a barrage of bullets at them this morning.
CHP officer David Madrigal, 41, who was backing up deputies on a disturbance call at the house, was shot in the knee during the exchange. He was flown to Mercy Medical Center in Redding by helicopter and later underwent surgery. Parker said tonight that Madrigal is doing well. A hospital spokesman said he is in serious condition.
The call that sent deputies to the house on Reno Avenue at 10:30 a.m. this morning came from Jean Bradley, who neighbors said had lived with Long for 14 years.
Parker said Bradley reported that Long had become angry and started throwing things around the house after she turned off his Internet connection.
When deputies arrived they were greeted by gunfire, which they returned. Madrigal was carried to safety, but the shooting continued.
The long standoff followed and soon from 75 to 100 deputies and other officers from Shasta and Tehama counties converged on the neighborhood. Reno Avenue was evacuated.
Parker said tonight he hoped that area residents would be allowed to return to their homes by about 9 p.m.
Numerous calls placed to Long's telephones throughout the day, attempts to hail him through a megaphone and a flash grenade detonated outside the house were met with no response.
Then deputies and other officers fired 12 rounds of teargas into a house unsuccessfully trying to flush out Long.
"We filled the house up," said Tehama County Sheriff Clay Parker just after 6 p.m.
About 7:30 p.m. a remote infrared camera was sent inside by a heavily armored team on the front porch of the house.
Finally, Parker said, deputies stuck a camera into the house on a long pole. It was that camera that revealed a view of a pair of lifeless legs on the a kitchen door, Parker said. When deputies realized that the legs weren't moving, they entered the house, he said.
They found the body, but they also found guns and rifles set up at the door and at windows throughout the house, the sheriff said.
That leads investigators to believe that Long was prepared for a long siege.
It's not known if Long was felled by a law enforcement bullet or a self-inflicted wound.
Parker said it's likely investigators will be at the scene all night.
"It's a tragedy," Parker said. "It's just really unfortunate that an officer was shot and someone from the community has died."
Earlier today Susan Mabe, a friend of the couple who lives nearby, said Long and Bradley had lived together in the house for 14 years.
Mabe said she was on the phone with the woman when Long started shooting and she could hear the shots over the phone. Bradley took cover in a back bedroom and Mabe told her to get out of the house.
Mabe described Long as very desperate and unhappy and predicted that he would not surrender to officers.
“I don’t think he has anything to lose,” she said.
A bystander who once worked with Long said the man’s son committed suicide about 12 years ago.
“He’s got a death wish and I think he’s going to get it,” Bob Bour said of Long.
Meanwhile, deputies set up a command post at Highway 99 and Reno Avenue. Throughout the day traffic moved slowly on Highway 99 and Reno Avenue was completely closed off.
“Right now we’re waiting,” said Parker earlier this afternoon. “There’s no reason to rush. We’ll just wait.”
Tehama county’s SWAT team waited at the command post and Shasta County’s SWAT team armored personnel carrier arrived about 12:30 p.m.
At 2 p.m., the situation continued. Parker said deputies had tried calling the man’s cell phone and home phone numbers, but hadn’t made contact with him and hadn't seen or heard Long moving inside the house.
“I’m not going to risk the lives of my officers to go in and check on him at this time,” Parker said at about 2 p.m.
It’s not known if the man was injured in the shooting, which continued long after Madrigal was hit.
By the time the SWAT teams began to take positions around the house there were from 75 to 100 officers and deputies at the scene, including Shasta and Tehama county deputies and officers from Redding, Red Bluff, the CHP and a team of investigators from the Tehama County district attorney's office.
Parker acknowledged tonight that the standoff was costing a lot of money in overtime and other expenses.
"It's just something we're not worried about right now," he said.
For much of the day Gerber School, a Chard Avenue elementary campus several blocks from Reno Avenue, was on a voluntary lockdown as a precaution, Gerber Union Elementary School District Chief Business Officer Bree Brown said.
GERBER -- A man suspected of shooting a California Highway Patrol officer was found dead of a gunshot wound on the kitchen floor of his heavily armed house tonight.
The man is believed to be Jim Long, 60, Tehama County Sheriff Clay Parker said.
"We have no reason not to believe it's him," Parker said shortly after deputies and other officers ended the nine-hour standoff that began when Long fired a barrage of bullets at them this morning.
CHP officer David Madrigal, 41, who was backing up deputies on a disturbance call at the house, was shot in the knee during the exchange. He was flown to Mercy Medical Center in Redding by helicopter and later underwent surgery. Parker said tonight that Madrigal is doing well. A hospital spokesman said he is in serious condition.
The call that sent deputies to the house on Reno Avenue at 10:30 a.m. this morning came from Jean Bradley, who neighbors said had lived with Long for 14 years.
Parker said Bradley reported that Long had become angry and started throwing things around the house after she turned off his Internet connection.
When deputies arrived they were greeted by gunfire, which they returned. Madrigal was carried to safety, but the shooting continued.
The long standoff followed and soon from 75 to 100 deputies and other officers from Shasta and Tehama counties converged on the neighborhood. Reno Avenue was evacuated.
Parker said tonight he hoped that area residents would be allowed to return to their homes by about 9 p.m.
Numerous calls placed to Long's telephones throughout the day, attempts to hail him through a megaphone and a flash grenade detonated outside the house were met with no response.
Then deputies and other officers fired 12 rounds of teargas into a house unsuccessfully trying to flush out Long.
"We filled the house up," said Tehama County Sheriff Clay Parker just after 6 p.m.
About 7:30 p.m. a remote infrared camera was sent inside by a heavily armored team on the front porch of the house.
Finally, Parker said, deputies stuck a camera into the house on a long pole. It was that camera that revealed a view of a pair of lifeless legs on the a kitchen door, Parker said. When deputies realized that the legs weren't moving, they entered the house, he said.
They found the body, but they also found guns and rifles set up at the door and at windows throughout the house, the sheriff said.
That leads investigators to believe that Long was prepared for a long siege.
It's not known if Long was felled by a law enforcement bullet or a self-inflicted wound.
Parker said it's likely investigators will be at the scene all night.
"It's a tragedy," Parker said. "It's just really unfortunate that an officer was shot and someone from the community has died."
Earlier today Susan Mabe, a friend of the couple who lives nearby, said Long and Bradley had lived together in the house for 14 years.
Mabe said she was on the phone with the woman when Long started shooting and she could hear the shots over the phone. Bradley took cover in a back bedroom and Mabe told her to get out of the house.
Mabe described Long as very desperate and unhappy and predicted that he would not surrender to officers.
“I don’t think he has anything to lose,” she said.
A bystander who once worked with Long said the man’s son committed suicide about 12 years ago.
“He’s got a death wish and I think he’s going to get it,” Bob Bour said of Long.
Meanwhile, deputies set up a command post at Highway 99 and Reno Avenue. Throughout the day traffic moved slowly on Highway 99 and Reno Avenue was completely closed off.
“Right now we’re waiting,” said Parker earlier this afternoon. “There’s no reason to rush. We’ll just wait.”
Tehama county’s SWAT team waited at the command post and Shasta County’s SWAT team armored personnel carrier arrived about 12:30 p.m.
At 2 p.m., the situation continued. Parker said deputies had tried calling the man’s cell phone and home phone numbers, but hadn’t made contact with him and hadn't seen or heard Long moving inside the house.
“I’m not going to risk the lives of my officers to go in and check on him at this time,” Parker said at about 2 p.m.
It’s not known if the man was injured in the shooting, which continued long after Madrigal was hit.
By the time the SWAT teams began to take positions around the house there were from 75 to 100 officers and deputies at the scene, including Shasta and Tehama county deputies and officers from Redding, Red Bluff, the CHP and a team of investigators from the Tehama County district attorney's office.
Parker acknowledged tonight that the standoff was costing a lot of money in overtime and other expenses.
"It's just something we're not worried about right now," he said.
For much of the day Gerber School, a Chard Avenue elementary campus several blocks from Reno Avenue, was on a voluntary lockdown as a precaution, Gerber Union Elementary School District Chief Business Officer Bree Brown said.
