Suspect in ‘ambush attack’ of California deputy pronounced dead at scene, sheriff says

A California man who is suspected to have shot a San Luis Obispo County deputy during an “ambush attack” on the local police department Wednesday was shot and killed after a standoff with officers late Thursday afternoon.

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said that officers confronted Mason Lira, 26, in Paso Robles after receiving reports of a shot officer just after 2 p.m.

“Law enforcement officers were stationed in this area as part of a containment team assigned to keep the suspect, Mason Lira, from evading officers who were beginning a search of the riverbed,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

“Officers arrived at the scene and conducted a search for the suspect, when the suspect opened fire on the officers, wounding two of them,” it added.

According to the report, officers found Mira hiding in the riverbed. Mira then tried to flee on foot, but was fatally shot by pursuing officers. The sheriff’s office said that he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The news of Mira’s death comes after he allegedly shot a sheriff’s deputy Wednesday when he opened fire on the Paso Robles Police Department building at 3:45 a.m. Wednesday morning.

San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson on Wednesday called Mira’s attack an “ambush.”

“We feel that this was an ambush, that he planned it, that he intended for officers to come out of the police department and to assault them,” he said at the press conference.

The officers who were shot Thursday were transported to local hospitals and are in “good condition with non-life threatening injuries,” the sheriff’s office said.