The Latest on the killing of a Sacramento police officer (all times local):
11:20 a.m.
A law enforcement expert says it’s “unacceptable” that it took Sacramento police officers nearly an hour to reach a colleague who was wounded during a domestic violence call and later died.
Police say officers couldn’t reach 26-year-old Tara O’Sullivan because the gunman kept firing at them.
Former New York Police Department Inspector Stephen Nasta said Thursday that officers should have commandeered an armored car, bus or heavy construction equipment if they had no immediate access to an armored police vehicle.
Nasta says police also could have used diversionary tactics such as firing at the home, deploying smoke grenades or breaking a door or window in another part of the home.
O’Sullivan died at a hospital after the Wednesday evening attack. The suspect, who has not been identified, surrendered to police after an eight-hour standoff.
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9:30 a.m.
A Sacramento officer killed during a domestic violence call had been on the police force for just six months.
The Sacramento Police Department said in a statement Thursday that 26-year-old Officer Tara O’Sullivan graduated from the police academy in December.
Before that, she worked as a community service officer and studied at Sacramento State University, where she graduated with a degree in child development about a year ago.
Deputy Chief Dave Peletta says the department is devastated over the loss of “our young, brave officer.”
A suspect in the shooting Wednesday surrendered after an eight-hour standoff. His name has not been released.
The department said detectives are gathering evidence at the home in a Sacramento neighborhood.
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7:15 a.m.
Sacramento police say a man suspected of fatally shooting a police officer who was on a domestic violence call has surrendered to authorities and is in police custody.
The Sacramento Police Department said in a statement Thursday that investigators are still gathering evidence at the location where 26-year-old Officer Tara O’Sullivan was shot on Wednesday.
Police have said O’Sullivan was assisting a woman removing belongings from a home in the north Sacramento neighborhood when the suspect opened fire. The woman who was being assisted was not hurt.
Police say the suspect fired his rifle on and off during an 8-hour standoff before he surrendered.
It took officers 45 minutes to rescue the wounded O’Sullivan because the gunman kept firing. She died at a hospital.
The suspect was not immediately identified.
