According to a police official, a man who fired on the police was killed while a police dog was shot in the face on Tuesday evening following an officer-involved shooting in Citrus Heights. The dog was taken to a veterinary hospital, and its condition was not disclosed.
As investigators continued working at the scene of the shooting, where the armed man was killed, eastbound lanes of Greenback Boulevard outside the Sunrise Mall were expected to be closed overnight.
The police spokesman Lt. Chad Morris said, “The shooting happened around 7:30 p.m. in the 8000 blocks of Greenback Boulevard near Arcadia Drive after police responded to a call for shots heard in the parking lot of the Macy’s at Sunrise Mall around 7:30 p.m. When police arrived at the scene, the suspect opened fire at officers. A Citrus Heights officer, the K-9’s handler, also was shot through the slack in his uniform but was not injured. A bystander’s car windshield was also struck by gunfire and the woman in that vehicle was taken to a hospital as a precaution but was not injured.”
Citrus Heights Police Chief Ronald Lawrence said, “Tuesday night, it was a very scary event, a very dangerous event. This highlights and underscores the dangers that police officers face every day.”
Police are still in the area investigating the shooting. The police said that officers have closed traffic on Greenback Lane, from Sunrise to Fair Oaks boulevards as they investigate the shooting. Deputies with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office and the California Highway Patrol are assisting in the investigation.
It was unclear how many officers were involved in the incident and how many shots were fired by the police or the suspect. Witnesses said that the man was killed in front of the Brake Masters auto shop along Greenback Boulevard, next door to a Red Robin restaurant; one witness said on social media that he had heard 12 shots in the encounter.
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