UPDATE 6:58 a.m.:
Law enforcement press release here: Sheriff’s Deputy Fires on Suspects Attempting to Flee; One Injured, One Arrested
UPDATE 12:05 a.m.: Two residents of the area where the gunshots were fired Monday evening have just described the situation to the Outpost.
“It must have been before 9 and after 8:30,” explained Eric Mason, a resident of the area where the incident occurred. “I was doing the dishes. I saw the car ripping down our road and the [law enforcement vehicle] chasing the car.”
Mason said that he lives on a dead end road which ends in his circular driveway. “They came ripping about our roundabout. My uncle [who lives with Mason] said they came to a head at the end of our driveway. The car went around the roundabout and then they were facing the police car. They attempted to run towards the police car and to the left up an embankment” in order to go around the officer’s car.”
Mason explained when that when the suspect vehicle couldn’t get past the police officer’s vehicle, they reversed. While reversing, he said, “They hit my wife’s car.”
Mason had gone to get his wife, Rheannon Okey. While he wasn’t looking at the vehicles, he heard multiple gunshots. Okey said that later law enforcement told them that some people had exited the vehicle and fled.
Okey said that at this point she came from her child’s bedroom and went outside. There were more law enforcement officers on the scene. She heard the driver of the suspect vehicle, screaming. Okey said, officers were telling the driver that she needed to exit the vehicle. The woman, Okey said, told them “I can’t. I’m bleeding.”
At that point, an officer told Okey to go back inside.
Later, Okey said, officers came to the home. She said they told her they needed to search her house to make sure someone didn’t sneak in without the family knowing. After the search was completed, the family was told to lock the doors and not come out.
Okey said her husband saw a male suspect later being placed in a law enforcement vehicle. She also said that law enforcement told her husband that there was still at least one suspect, reportedly a female, still at large.
As of 11:15, Mason said, law enforcement was still on his property looking for the suspect/s. “There is a K9 search of our property happening right now. We own about an acre and that is all being searched….I can tell our property is swarming with police.”
Okey said that she isn’t too concerned though she is having trouble getting her children to go to sleep. “ I feel pretty safe and secure,” she explained because “there are a lot of cops” around her home.
UPDATE 10:19 p.m.: Law enforcement is using a K9 to search for suspects.
UPDATE 10:15 p.m.: According to scanner traffic, one suspect has been detained. “Possibly two suspects are still outstanding.”
UPDATE 10:06 p.m.: A K9 unit was requested.
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Original post:
Scanner traffic indicates that gunshots have been fired in the McKinleyville area. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office and Arcata Police Department have responded to Chapel Hill near Azalea Ave. At 9:05 p.m. an officer requested medical aid.
Scanner traffic later at approximately 9:35 p.m. indicated that a woman was injured. She apparently has a gunshot wound in her arm. Two suspects, one a woman and one a man who is possibly armed, have run off in the woods.
Scanner traffic indicates that Azalea Avenue is being blocked at Sutter and at North Bank. We are monitoring the situation and will update as soon as possible.
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