A man recently released from jail in Central California was shot and killed at the end of a 36-hour hunt that followed the shooting …
A man recently released from jail in Central California was shot and killed at the end of a 36-hour hunt that followed the shooting of a sheriff’s deputy and other attacks that wounded three other law enforcement officers.
Mason James Lira,26, was killed Thursday afternoon after he emerged from a brushy riverbed in Paso Robles where he’d hidden all night, climbed a steep hillside and ran toward a vineyard, authorities said.
He had two stolen handguns and investigators found a box of ammunition, Paso Robles Police Chief Ty Lewis said.
He clearly had been planning to attack police, possibly for days, the chief said.
The specific motive for the attacks was under investigation but one thing was clear, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said: “He did want to shoot law enforcement.”
Lira’s father told The Associated Press he thinks the shooting at the police station might have been a suicide attempt.
Jose Lira said his son had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, Asperger’s syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He said his son has been in and out of jail and treatment centers, didn’t take his medication and often thinks he is a special agent or a soldier.
“He lives in a fantasy world,” Jose Lira said. “He doesn’t have a beef with the police.”
The series of attacks began before dawn Wednesday when a gunman opened fire on the police station in Paso Robles, a wine and tourist town with little crime.
County sheriff’s Deputy Nicholas Dreyfus,28, was hit in the face when he and his partner answered a call for aid.
