WOODLAND, CA — Police in Woodland said officers shot and killed an armed man Friday after a standoff that lasted about two hours in a neighborhood near Alice and Johnston streets.
Sgt. Ryan Bowler said officers were called after 2 p.m. for reports of shots fired in the area. Once they arrived, investigators determined that a man was firing a gun from his backyard. SWAT members and crisis negotiators later responded to the home.
After negotiations continued for roughly two hours, officers opened fire and struck the man, Bowler said. Police said it is not clear who fired first. The man was pronounced dead at the scene after life-saving efforts, and no officers were injured.
Police response focused on a house on Johnston Street
KCRA 3 reporter Denzen Cortez said officers concentrated on a house on Johnston Street as the scene unfolded. He also reported seeing a person placed on a gurney and taken to an ambulance.
Police did not say whether the dead man was the only person inside the home. They also did not identify him by name. The department has not said what prompted the gunfire reported shortly after 2 p.m. or how long the man had been inside the residence before officers arrived.
The confrontation drew a heavy law enforcement presence to the block, with patrol officers and tactical units working around the home while negotiations continued. Police said the shooting happened only after attempts to resolve the standoff without force had gone on for hours.
Shelter-in-place order covered nearby streets as the scene developed
Because of the amount of police activity, officials ordered residents in the area to shelter in place. The warning covered neighborhoods around Alice Street, East Main Street and Johnston Street, and residents were told to stay indoors and avoid the area.
County officials also advised people to bring pets inside if they could do so quickly and to close windows and doors. Woodland police and fire departments, along with Yolo County Animal Services, responded to the scene.
The shelter-in-place order was issued while officers worked around the home and sought to secure the neighborhood. Police later said there was no ongoing threat to the public.
Neighbors reported hearing dozens of shots during the standoff
People living nearby told Cortez that they believed an individual had some kind of rifle and that SWAT had been called to the area. One neighbor said shots may have come from a house at Johnston and Depot streets.
Neighbors also said they heard about 20 shots during the incident. Police did not confirm how many rounds were fired by the man or what type of gun he was using.
Those accounts matched the intense police response seen in the neighborhood, where officers blocked off streets and worked from outside the home while the standoff continued. Officials have not said whether any property was damaged during the exchange.
No officers were hurt and police say the public is safe
Woodland police said no officers were injured in the shooting. The man was the only reported person shot during the incident, and emergency crews tried to save his life at the scene before he was pronounced dead.
Police said the situation no longer posed a threat to the public after the confrontation ended. The department has not released further details about the man’s identity or what led up to the gunfire.
Investigators are still left with several unanswered questions, including who fired first and whether anyone else was inside the house when the standoff began. For now, police say the neighborhood is secure and the immediate danger has passed.
What remains unclear after the fatal police shooting in Woodland
Several key details have not been made public. Police have not said how many shots the man fired, what kind of firearm he had, or whether he was alone inside the home.
Officers also have not explained what sparked the original call for gunfire in the neighborhood or how long the person had been firing from the backyard before the SWAT response began. The department did say the man was armed when officers confronted him.
The fatal shooting came after crisis negotiators spent about two hours trying to bring the standoff to an end. With the scene now contained, investigators are expected to continue reviewing the sequence of events that led to the exchange of gunfire.