BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — What started off as an eviction notice in Tulare County led to a detective getting shot and killed. Kern County deputies responded to Porterville with a Bearcat and a Rook — two armored vehicles. The Bearcat armored vehicle ran over the suspect after an eight-hour standoff.

Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said the suspect jumped out of a back window and lied in wait with his rifle ready in the backyard.

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“As the deputies went towards the house, the suspect fired a high-powered rifle, the Bearcat took four rounds to the driver’s side of the windshield, and the deputies driving the Rook ran over the suspect, and the suspect was ultimately killed,” said Youngblood.

Youngblood said it took seconds for the time deputies rounded the corner to run over the suspect. No KCSO deputies were injured and the deputies in the Bearcat are on paid administrative leave, pending a use-of-force investigation.

“The deputy was in fear of their lives, they were being fired with a high-powered rifle, had actually penetrated the cockpit of the Bearcat already. Those deputies’ lives were on the line,” said Youngblood.

Youngblood said during the standoff, KCSO’s Rook was used to help deputies.

“The Rook was used to clear debris, it was used to tear the front of the garage off, it was used to remove a car that was in the garage, to give the officers better visibility and better safety,” Youngblood said.

Tulare County has their own SWAT team, but the intensity of losing one of their own became too much of a risk for those still on scene. So KCSO stepped in.

“We’d like to use a different SWAT team because, when we had Phillip Campas killed in the line of duty, it’s very emotional and you want a SWAT team that can be as unemotional as they possibly can. In this particular case, they used us, instead of their own SWAT team,” said Youngblood.

After the suspect was pronounced dead, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said suspects will get run over intentionally if they shoot at police.

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“Whenever you have an officer-involved shooting, the shooting is intentional to stop the threat. I think Sheriff Boudreaux was probably emotional yesterday,” said Youngblood.

Youngblood said all law enforcement deal with situations every day where they might not know what they’re walking into, but that’s part of the job.

“It’s one of the hazards in our occupation,” Youngblood said. “We hope it never happens again, but we know it will.”

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