TEMPLETON, CA (KMJ) – The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office responded to an officer-involved shooting on Thursday.
The shooting was reported around 10:40 a.m. near Templeton Cemetery Road in Templeton.
Templeton is between Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo on Highway 101.
A sheriff’s deputy was driving on the 3400 block of Theater Drive when he noticed an unoccupied vehicle on the side of the road.
The deputy continued to drive, and located a man who was wanted on a felony warrant.
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said a deputy attempted to stop the man, but the man fled into the nearby cemetery and hid.
Parkinson said the suspect was a member of a white supremacist gang.
The sheriff’s gang task force was conducting a criminal investigation prior to the shooting.
Parkinson said the suspect ambushed the deputy from the cemetery, and shot him in the leg.
Two additional deputies arrived on scene, by the suspect’s vehicle on Theater Road.
The suspect was still armed with a handgun, Sheriff Parkinson said deputies fired, and the suspect was shot dead.
The man’s identity has not yet been released.
A search warrant was issued for the man’s home.
The wounded deputy was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition.
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