A 911 call in California appears to have been made as part of a planned ambush just three days after two sheriff’s deputies were shot in an unprovoked attack in Compton, Los Angeles County.
The Kern County Sheriff’s Office received a call of a suspicious vehicle off Moneta Avenue at around 1:14 a.m. on Tuesday, prompting deputies to respond.
When the first deputy arrived, he began to investigate the vehicle and found it was reported stolen.
“Almost immediately after discovering the vehicle was stolen, an adult male began charging at the deputy from the opposite direction of the vehicle in an apparent ambush,” the sheriff’s office public information officer said in a statement.
The officer fired his weapon several times.
The suspect, a 31-year-old Hispanic male, who was later identified as Ricardo Usher, was taken to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The suspect was slated to be booked into the Kern County Jail for felony assault charges, the sheriff’s office said.
Usher has a criminal history that includes evading an officer and being drunk and disorderly.
The deputy, who did nothing to provoke the attack, was placed on routine administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into the officer-involved shooting.
Officials see similarities between the attack and the one that took place in Los Angeles County over the weekend.
“The deputy involved was on a completely unrelated call when a subject rushed up to him from behind. The deputy didn’t know what he was doing or what he was armed with at the time, so this is a very similar type scenario.”
Detectives are working on finding out who made the 911 call, and from where.
“This initially started out as a very benign call and then it escalated very quickly from there so the deputies just never know what they are going to be getting into on each call for service they go to,” he added.
Anyone with information was asked to contact authorities.
