Rancho Cordova, California – Rancho Cordova deputies were first called not to a freeway, but to a neighborhood where a badly injured woman was knocking on doors and screaming for help.
By the time the case reached Interstate 80, authorities say it had moved from a domestic violence emergency to a pursuit, then to a deadly officer-involved shooting just west of the Antelope Road exit.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said its Communications Center received a call at about 10 a.m. Sunday, July 5, after a “battered and bloody” woman was reported in the 2200 block of Zinfandel Drive in Rancho Cordova. As deputies headed to the area, more 911 calls came in. The woman, authorities said, was going door to door trying to get someone to let her in.
One residence did. That gave the victim a place to wait until deputies arrived.
When deputies spoke with her, she described what the sheriff’s office called three days of brutal beatings by her ex-husband. She told deputies she had been beaten, pistol-whipped and strangled until she lost consciousness. She also said another assault happened that morning.
According to the sheriff’s account, the woman said she “played dead” until the suspect left the room. That moment allowed her to escape the home and run for help.
The victim told deputies she did not know where the suspect had gone, but believed he might still be at the residence where the attacks happened. She also warned them that he had a pistol and was always armed.
Deputies went to the home, but the suspect was not there. The victim’s vehicle was also missing. A BOLO, or “be on the lookout” alert, was then sent to nearby law enforcement agencies.
North Patrol deputies later found the vehicle on Fair Oaks Boulevard near Kenneth Avenue. When they tried to stop it, authorities said the suspect fled, starting a pursuit. The chase eventually moved onto eastbound Interstate 80.
The sheriff’s office said the officer-involved shooting happened on I-80 just west of the Antelope Road exit. The suspect was hit by gunfire and later pronounced dead at the scene by the Sacramento Metro Fire Department. No deputies were injured.
Local reports said the shooting and investigation closed parts of I-80 and caused traffic delays in the area. The suspect’s name had not been released in the initial reports.