Gunman shoots at California police station, wounds deputy

A sheriff’s deputy was wounded Wednesday while responding to a report that a gunman was firing shots at a central California police station, authorities said. The motive was not known.

The shooter remained on the loose and a search was underway in the downtown area of the city of Paso Robles, said Tony Cipolla, spokesman for the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department. People in the area were urged to shelter in place.

The gunman fired at the Paso Robles Police Department around 3:45 a.m., he said. Gunfire occurred over a span of some minutes but details were unclear, Cipolla said.

The wounded deputy was hospitalized in serious but stable condition, Cipolla said.

The Paso Robles Police Department tweeted that shooting stopped by 4 a.m. Paso Robles is in California’s central coast wine region about 175 miles (280 kilometers) s northwest of Los Angeles.

The shooting follows two recent deadly shootings targeting officers in California.

Santa Cruz County sheriff’s Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, 348, was killed and another deputy was injured Saturday in the community of Ben Lomond in an attack allegedly carried out by an Air Force sergeant armed with homemade bombs, an AR-15 rifle and other weapons.

Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart said the suspect, Staff Sgt. Steven Carrillo was intent on killing officers.

Carrillo was wounded at some point and was being treated for a non-life-threatening injury.

The FBI is investigating whether Carrillo, 32, has links to the killing of a federal security officer who was shot outside the U.S. courthouse in Oakland during a protest against police mistreatment of black people on May 29.

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