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2 sheriff’s deputies, officer shot in North California

26 February 2010 01:38 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Two Fresno County deputies and a police officer were shot Thursday by a man who then barricaded himself inside a house and kept firing on law enforcement officials, authorities said, APA reports citing Associated Press.

A neighbor said he heard what sounded like hundreds of shots.

Sheriff’s spokesman Chris Curtice had no further details about the ongoing standoff. It was unclear if any other people were inside the home.

The injured officers were shot during an unspecified investigation in a rural part of Central California. Two were deputies with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department. The other was a police officer from Reedley.

Their conditions were unknown. All three were taken to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, where numerous deputies and police officers had gathered.
Mary Lisa Russell, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said the emergency department was briefly locked down when the deputies and the officer arrived. She would not provide any information about their conditions.

The deputies were assisting state fire officials when they were shot, Curtice said.
Daniel Berlant, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said state fire officials were at the scene but would not say why and referred questions to the Sheriff’s Department.

Mary Novack, who runs a convenience store across from the home under siege, said she saw the deputies and a fire official smash down the door of the home in Minkler in eastern Fresno County after repeatedly demanding someone inside surrender. Then she heard gunfire.

"Oh my god, somebody’s going to be dead," Novack recalled thinking at the time.
Jim Stone, 46, who lives about 100 feet from the surrounded home, said he was evacuated after the shooting erupted.

Stone said he heard what sounded like hundreds of shots.