SONOMA COUNTY, CA — The Santa Rosa Police Department released the name of a man who died early Monday in an unincorporated county area of west Santa Rosa after he is said to have shot at Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies with an AK-47-style rifle as he led them on a pursuit.
As detectives continued to piece together the circumstances that led to the man’s death, they identified him as Jose Luis Villasenor Cervantes, a 53-year-old resident of Santa Rosa.
Under a countywide protocol for officer-involved shootings, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office handed the investigation over to the Santa Rosa Police Department.
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Deputies first encountered Cervantes at 12:10 a.m. Monday when they responded to a 911 call about a man brandishing a rifle near Todd Road and Stony Point Road. Deputies were advised the suspect was possibly driving a white four-door sedan in the area.
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One deputy saw the car being driven on Todd Road near Standish Avenue. Less than a minute later, the deputy advised “shots fired” over the radio, Santa Rosa police Sgt. Patricia Seffens said.
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“Following the initial assault on the deputies, the suspect led deputies on a pursuit which ended in a collision in the 3200 block of Stony Point Road,” Seffens said.
Four deputies were injured —one suffered a critical head injury — and Cervantes died at the scene of the crash.
Pending autopsy results, detectives have not yet confirmed the exact cause of Cervantes’ death, Seffens said.
According to Santa Rosa police, Cervantes was armed with an AK-47-style rifle when he got out of his car and immediately began firing at the first deputy who tried to contact him.
The deputy returned fire.
More deputies — their names have not yet been released — responded and were also immediately fired upon by Cervantes, Santa Rosa police have determined.
“It is estimated that Cervantes fired numerous 7.62x39mm rifle rounds at the deputies before returning to his vehicle and engaging the deputies in a vehicle pursuit,” Seffens said.
The Santa Rosa Police Department is expected to issue additional statements as detectives with SRPD’s Violent Crimes Investigation Team continue to piece together what happened.
The investigation involves interviews with all four of the deputies.
“As far as the release of the names of the deputies, we will have a better idea of that after our detectives complete all of their interviews,” Seffens told Patch.
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