Six Officers Hurt in Roseville Shootout

Some residents of the Sacramento suburb of Roseville were still waiting to be allowed to return to their homes 24 hours after a Friday night shootout between law enforcement agents and a wanted parolee left six officers injured.

 

The incident created scenes of panic and chaos in a typically quiet middle class suburb of about 120,000 that is 20 miles northeast of the state capitol.

 

Roseville police spokesman Lt. Cal Walstad said at a Saturday afternoon news conference that one Roseville police officer suffered a jaw wound and a federal immigration agent was shot in the leg. Both  remain hospitalized Saturday.

 

Four other Roseville officers injured by shrapnel in the melee were treated and released.

 

The suspect in the violent confrontation that ended after an hours-long standoff is a gang member with a criminal record that includes assault and carjacking. Samuel Nathan Duran, 32, was taken to the Placer County jail Saturday after being treated for scrapes and cuts at an area hospital. He  surrendered just after midnight. Facial injuries were clear in his mug (photo below) released by authorities.

Celia Duran, the suspect's mother, told KCRA she believes her son did what he did Friday because he is addicted to methamphetamine and did not want to return to prison.

Duran's mother also said she regrets not being able to have contact with him during the standoff.

"Probably, if I would have talked to him or have his dad have contact with him, probably, he would have given himself up instead of having all these things going down, you know?," she said. "While he was doing all this, maybe he would have listened, you know? He would have listened."

On Saturday, investigators explained what prompted Friday's turn of events. Roseville police said when officers tried to arrest Duran, with the help of the ICE special agent, he took off.  They were not in the area looking for him, but one agent recognized he was a wanted felon as he road by on his bike, police said.

The ICE agent was actually working with officers on another operation when they spotted Duran.

Officers ran after him and that is when shots were first fired and the ICE agent was struck in the foot -- about 3:04 p.m. Roseville police put the special agent in a patrol car and took him to Sutter Roseville Hospital.

"(Duran) was intent on getting away and even murdering any officer that got in his way," the Roseville police chief Daniel Hahn.

"Last night our community experienced what can happen in any when a violent wanted felon is completely committed to not going back to jail,'' added Hahn.

Duran was being held on a parole violation, but Hahn said he expected multiple charges of attempted murder would be added.

State corrections officials told The Associated Press that Duran has a record stretching back to at least 2002, when he was convicted of possessing a controlled substance.

In 2009, he was sentenced to four years for assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest and attempted carjacking. Records show he was paroled last in April, but that the parole was revoked in July. Officers on another mission recognized Duran when they saw him riding a bike Friday at about 3 p.m., the chief said.

They recognized him as being wanted for the parole violation. A federal immigration agent attempted to chase Duran on foot, but was shot in the leg.

Officials said Duran was armed with a handgun but wouldn't specify the type. Duran quickly holed up in a nearby house, and a mother and child inside escaped out a side door.

Walstad described multiple shooting sites as the suspect tried to escape a swarm of descending law enforcement agents, and reporters on the scene described hearing several volleys of gunfire.

As officers attempted to capture the suspect before his surrender, helicopters were circling overhead and armored vehicles and other police cars flocked to the area.

At least 15 homes were evacuated, and the area remained a crime scene late Saturday, Walstad said. 

Law enforcement officers had been looking for Duran in the area for at least 10 days before finding him on Friday, Walstad said.

When they found him, Walstad added, he opened fire, wounding the federal immigration officer, who was on the scene to provide support for the Roseville police.