A California Highway Patrol officer stands guard near the shooting scene in Santa Cruz, California, where two Santa Cruz Police detectives and their suspect were shot and killed in a shoot-out. The violence has shattered the quiet coastal town. Picture: AP/Santa Cruz Sentinel/Dan Coyro Source: AP
THE quiet seaside community of Santa Cruz erupted in violence on Tuesday when two detectives investigating a sex crime were fatally shot while trying to question a man who was later killed in a police shootout, leaving the chief to call it the darkest day in the department's history.
Sgt. Loren Butch Baker and detective Elizabeth Butler were shot and killed during an altercation at the home of the coffee shop worker, according to police and the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's office.
They were shot while following up on allegations that barista Jeremy Goulet, 35, made inappropriate sexual advances on a co-worker at her home, authorities said. Goulet was arrested Friday and was fired the next day, The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported.
Baker, a 28-year veteran of the force, and Butler, a 10-year veteran, had gone to the house where Goulet was living to follow up on the case, authorities said. They were subsequently fired upon and called for backup, and responding officers found Goulet, who was killed in the gunfire that followed, the sheriff's office said.
"There aren't words to describe this horrific tragedy," said Police Chief Kevin Vogel. "This is the darkest day in the history of the Santa Cruz police department."
Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Deputies secure the shooting scene.
The shootings prompted the lockdown of two schools and an automatic police call to nearby residents, warning them to stay locked inside. The ordinarily quiet residential neighbourhood echoed with a brief barrage of gunfire that killed the suspect about a half hour after the officers were shot.
A store clerk a few buildings from the shooting said the shootout was "terrifying."
"We ducked. We have big desks so under the desks we went," said the clerk, who spoke on condition of anonymity and asked that her store not be identified because she feared for her safety.
After the shootings, police went door-to-door in the neighbourhood, searching homes, garages, even closets, to determine whether there might be additional suspects. Law enforcement officers filled intersections, and helicopters and light aircraft patrolled the neighbourhood about a mile from downtown Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
The two police officers were killed while following up on allegations that barista Jeremy Goulet made inappropriate sexual advances on a co-worker at her home. Picture: AP/Santa Cruz Sentinel, Dan Coyro
The city's mayor, Hilary Bryant, said in a statement that the community about 97 kilometres south of San Francisco was "heartbroken at the loss of two of our finest police officers who were killed in the line of duty, protecting the community we love."
"This is an exceptionally shocking and sad day for Santa Cruz and our police department," Mr Bryant said.
Goulet, a barista at a coffee shop in the Santa Cruz harbor, was previously convicted in Portland, Oregon, in May 2008 of peeping on a 22-year-old woman who was showering in her condominium and of carrying concealed weapon, according to a Portland newspaper, The Oregonian. He was on probation but was sentenced to two years in jail after a dispute with his probation officer.
The shootings came amid a recent spike in assaults, which community leaders had planned to address in a downtown rally scheduled for Tuesday. That, along with a City Council meeting, was cancelled after teary-eyed city leaders learned of the deaths.
The recent violence included the killing of a 32-year-old martial arts instructor who was shot outside a popular downtown bar and restaurant; the robbery of a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who was shot in the head; a 21-year-old woman who was raped and beaten on the UC campus; and a couple who fought off two men during a home invasion.
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