A heavily armed active-duty Air Force staff sergeant who was arrested in the “ambush” killing of a sheriff’s deputy in California was detained by a resident who batted away his guns and a pipe bomb, holding the suspect until neighbors and police arrived, authorities said Monday.
The dramatic apprehension happened on Saturday, after the suspect, Staff Sgt. Steven Carrillo, allegedly shot and killed Santa Cruz county Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, 38, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart said.
Another deputy was shot and struck by shrapnel from a bomb before Carrillo allegedly ran over him while fleeing the scene, Hart said. A third law enforcement officer, a member of the California Highway Patrol, was shot in the hand, he said.
The second deputy suffered “significant internal trauma” from a bullet that struck his tactical vest and a possible leg injury but is in stable condition, Hart said.
The FBI is also investigating a possible link between Saturday’s incident and the May 29 killing of a federal officer in Oakland. Authorities have said that the suspect who fired at that officer, Dave Patrick Underwood, was in a white van. Carrillo allegedly opened fire on officers Saturday after someone called 911 about a suspicious white van in the Santa Cruz mountains that had guns and bomb-making equipment inside.
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When officers found the van, the driver took off. Authorities followed it to a driveway in the remote community of Ben Lomond, in unincorporated in Santa Cruz county. There, Hart said, Carrillo ambushed the officers before fleeing the scene.
As deputies searched the area, Carrillo allegedly escaped to the back yard of a home with an AR-15-style assault rifle slung over his shoulder. When a resident confronted him, asking why he was there, Carrillo allegedly demanded his car keys.
Hart said the resident, who asked not to be identified, gave his keys to Carrillo, then tackled him as the suspect began to leave. When the rifle “fell away,” Hart said, Carrillo allegedly tried to ignite a pipe bomb in his pocket while the man restrained him.
“He was able to knock it out of his hand,” Hart said.
Carrillo then allegedly reached into his waistband for a pistol, which the resident also knocked away.
By then, other neighbors had arrived and were able to hold the suspect until authorities arrived. Video footage from the scene showed two men holding him on the ground. An assault rifle could be seen nearby.
The woman who shot the video, Clara Ricabal, can be heard shouting at officers that the men had the suspect detained. She said the half-minute delay “felt like an eternity.”
“It was remarkable, remarkable, heroic thing that resident did,” Hart said, adding that he would award him a commendation.
“This guy could have done a lot more damage,” he said.
Carrillo is the team leader of a specialized Air Force unit in the 60th Security Forces Squadron. He was stationed at Travis Air Force Base, northeast of the San Francisco Bay Area, in June 2018.
Carrillo’s wife, who was also in the Air Force, died by suicide in South Carolina in 2018. John Bennett, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Francisco office, said Carrillo was not a suspect in her death, which he said was investigated by the Air Force.
Santa Cruz County District Attorney Jeffrey Rosell said Carrillo will be arraigned Friday. Hart has said he will face murder charges.
Caroline Radnofsky
contributed.
