Rastafarian Church calls police after farm worker starts tearing up marijuana plants.. Shootout ensues with two officers shot – PB/TK
Deputy pulls colleagues to safety during pot farm shootout – By Sophia Bollag and Kathleen Ronayne, Associated Press / Aug 2 2017
A Northern California sheriff’s deputy ran into a house to pull two wounded colleagues to safety after a shootout with a suspect at a Rastafarian church’s marijuana farm.
The two deputies were expected to survive after the third, a 22-year veteran, put in an officers-down call and by himself entered the house in which the gunman had fled, Yuba County Sheriff Steve Durfor said.
The deputy did not see the suspect or hear any gunfire while rescuing the two officers Tuesday, and later when a SWAT team members entered the house he was found dead. It is likely the suspect died from the deputies’ return gunfire, Durfor said, but it’s possible his wounds were self-inflicted.
The suspect had been working for about a month at the farm of Sugarleaf Rastafarian Church, which holds marijuana sacred and grows it on the farm about 55 miles (88.5 kilometers) north of Sacramento. The church’s leader, Heidi Lepp, said she received a call from church members who worked on the farm saying the man, who she knew only as “Sawyer,” was ripping up plants and wielding a gun. She told the workers to leave and called authorities.
Continue to abcnews.go.com article: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/deputy-pulls-colleagues-safety-pot-farm-shootout-48982380
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