Veteran California police officer killed in shootout during transnational drug ring takedown

An Army veteran police officer was killed in a shootout during an operational crackdown on transnational drug trafficking organizations infiltrating illicit drugs into the United States, California officials said Wednesday.

Yuba County District Attorney Clint Curry said in a Wednesday afternoon press conference that multiple law enforcement agencies launched 20 search warrants across Yuba, Sutter, Tehama and Butte counties as a result of a multi-year investigation into the trafficking of methamphetamines and fentanyl. 

A Marysville Police Department officer was injured during an exchange of gunfire between law enforcement and a person inside a home authorities were investigating, Yuba County Sheriff Wendell Anderson said. The officer, who was taken to the Adventist Health and Rideout hospital, later died from his injuries. 

“Obviously, this tragedy has rocked our small community,” Anderson said.

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The gunman was shot and killed, Anderson said. A second individual was inside the house, and is being considered a witness at this time, Curry said.

The sheriff said the gunman died at the scene, and there was another person inside the house who DA Curry said is being considered a witness at this time.

During the news conference, Marysville Police Chief Christian Sachs did not identify the officer killed, saying that the department will take Wednesday to honor and mourn him. He said they may release more information about the officer on Thursday.

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Sachs said he was “a loved one, a brother, a father and a close friend.”

Curry said that before law enforcement launched their search warrants that they seized hundreds of pounds of different drugs, including methamphetamine and fentaNYL.

“These were major players moving poison through our communities,” he said. “And we couldn’t just sit and watch it happen. We had to do something about it. And it’s just tragic and all of us would just ask that you be praying for the officer’s family and for this law enforcement community that’s also grieving today.”

The officer’s death marks the first time in over a century that a Marysville officer has been killed in the line of duty. The identification of the officer is being withheld pending next of kin notifications.