Sacramento County deputies release bodycam footage of deadly I-80 shooting
Man had pointed a firearm at deputies, Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office says
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office released body cam footage of a July pursuit on Interstate 80 that led to a man getting shot and killed by deputies.
The sheriff’s office said the incident began as a domestic violence call around 10 a.m. on July 5. A woman reported that a man, identified as William Kreuzer, had beaten and tortured her for three days. Investigators said the woman had to play dead to escape and get help.
“Our communication center received a call for service stating that there was a woman bloodied, screaming, running through the streets over off of Zinfandel Drive in Rancho Cordova,” said Sgt. Edward Igoe, a spokesperson with the sheriff’s office.
Igoe previously said the woman was running door to door seeking help, and someone eventually let her inside while deputies responded.
“Once deputies arrived and spoke with her, it turned out that for the past three days she had been being violently assaulted by her ex and that included being beaten, being pistol whipped, being strangled to the point of unconsciousness,” Igoe said. “Another brutal attack took place this morning. After playing dead for some time, the suspect had left the room that she was in and she was able to flee and try to get help.”
Deputies went to her home, but the man and the woman’s car were gone, Igoe said.
“She did make sure to let us know that he was armed with at least one pistol and that he was always armed,” Igoe said. “So, deputies did go into that knowing that this was an armed individual.”
Deputies initiated a pursuit and found Kreuzer by using license plate readers, Igoe said. Kreuzer near Fair Oaks Boulevard and Kenneth Avenue. He fled onto eastbound I-80, at one point driving in the wrong direction before stopping his car.
“He was going eastbound 80 and at the Antelope scale area, he voluntarily stopped and did a U-turn on the freeway,” Jaimi Kenyon, California Highway Patrol North Sacramento Captain, said. “The deputies were behind him in full pursuit. So, there was no traffic right behind them. It was all law enforcement.”
Deputies said Kreuzer then pointed a gun at them, prompting them to fire their weapons, killing him.
Kreuzer died at the scene, and deputies later recovered his gun.
Eastbound I-80 was closed from Greenback Lane to Antelope Road for nine hours as part of the investigation. Westbound lanes were closed but are also now open.
“We just want to make sure that the scene isn’t corrupted at all and that we have integrity of all the evidence. So that’s why we made it an extra-long scene. And because it basically goes shoulder to shoulder, that’s why the freeways shut down to make sure we don’t miss anything,” Kenyon said.
No deputies were injured in the pursuit or shooting, the sheriff’s office said.
Officials said the woman was medically treated. She was in stable condition but suffered very significant injuries.
CHP is handling the shooting investigation.
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Help is available for those in need of domestic violence resources. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) for confidential help 24/7.