Holy fucking moly. Sheriff’s office press release:
UPDATE: The survivor is a 19-year-old male from Antioch. Note below that both suspects sustained gunshot wounds to the head, but the press release states that neither the CHP nor the Sheriff’s Deputies fired their weapons. More info in a few minutes.
Shortly before 11:00 last night the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office received a report of shots fired near School and Anderson Roads in McKinleyville. The reporting party indicated the suspects were driving a gold Jeep Grand Cherokee had fired several shots from an AK-47 assault rifle. A short time later another caller reported seeing somebody in a gold Jeep Grand Cherokee waving a weapon out the window on Giuntoli Road in Arcata. A sheriff’s deputy responded to the area and spotted the vehicle traveling eastbound on Hwy 299. The deputy followed the vehicle at a distance while waiting for additional deputies to arrive. With additional sheriff’s units in place, deputies attempted to conduct a car stop on the vehicle. The driver failed to yield but instead accelerated with deputies in pursuit. About five miles into pursuit the passenger in the Jeep fired three to four shots at the pursuing deputies. The suspects fired at deputies six more time – each time firing between two and four rounds.
Officers from the California Highway Patrol arrived to assist and placed a spike strip near mile marker 36. As the suspects approached, they fired on the CHP officers, striking two of their vehicles. The vehicle continued for approximately one more mile until it slowed and exited the roadway into a gravel turnout. The Jeep struck a three-foot dirt barrier that bordered the turnout and then went over the side of the highway. The car came to rest about 200 years below the roadway.
A short time later one of the occupants was spotted climbing back up the embankment. He appeared to have sustained a gunshot wound to his head but was alert and responsive. He indicated he had attempted to kill himself. He was wearing a bulletproof vest. He was transported to a local hospital where he was stabilized; he was later transported out of the area for further medical treatment.
The second person in the vehicle was located near the vehicle. He was deceased and appeared to have a bullet wound to the head. His name is being withheld pending the notification of next of kin.
Neither Sheriff’s Deputies nor CHP Officers fired their weapons during the incident. No law enforcement officers were injured. The California Highway Patrol and the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the case. The injured man has not been arrested as the investigation is still in the early stages.
This article appears in State of Panic.
"The car came to rest about 200 years below the roadway."
Heckuva fall.
only a short fall, geologically.
home invasions, stabbings, assault weilding crazies, I’m beginning to see why I live rural south of Table Bluff.
Love your lead sentence- HILARIOUS! – but not the title, because it wasn’t a shootout with deputies, supposedly – …the press release states that neither the CHP nor the Sheriff’s Deputies fired their weapons…
How many deadly incidents recently? And how many in McKinleyville in the last few months? Looking forward to your coverage.
Fair enough.
I was wondering the same thing. How many dope-related home invasions in McK recently? Apparently the Sheriff’s Office doesn’t keep stats.
With all the talk of one in three (five by some accounts) houses in Arcata being a grow house, I would have bet that wasn’t the case in McKinleyville. Now I am not so sure.
Seems to me there have been four shootings in the last few months. This one, the one a week or so ago where the guy shot the pot-burglars as they were driving away (Harden Drive), the Widow White shooting (which didn’t seem to be about Pot), and the "Boo-Boo" incident on Coach Way back in November.
Those are just the ones that ended with someone shot or killed.
It’s too bad no one is keeping track, it would be easy to do.
Maybe the price of weed will go back up now.
I am skeptical of this whole story. These dummies met on the corner right next to Highway 101 to make a deal. Meet in a neutral location does not mean meet in the most advantageous spot for rip-off artists.
There is no indication that these dealers were from McKinleyville. These dealers must have met at this spot without knowing where it was upon the insistence of the psychotic duo. This is pure speculation, but if these dealers were local McKillbillies (who have nothing better to do than practice shooting their guns all day), there would have been no high-speed chase. There would be two kevlar-vest wearing psychopaths rushed to the emergency room with multiple gunshot wounds to the head.
Uhhhhh. Whatever, tough guy. Not sure why you commented. Your McKville pride is certainly misguided.
Too bad one survived to waste limited tax payer money.