SAN JOSE, Calif. – A Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputy is alive following a shooting thanks in part to his body-worn camera. The deputy was involved in an ambush by two men in a car Friday night, The Mercury News reported.
Officials said on Monday they were still searching for the suspects. As a result, all deputies and San Jose police officers have been placed on high alert because of the ambush attack.
Radio traffic that night was alarming, and it was a close call. Investigators said one of four rounds fired struck Deputy Sukhdeep Gill’s body camera, which was mounted on the center of his chest. He was also wearing standard issue soft body armor.
Dazed but still alert, he fired two rounds from his weapon at the now-fleeing attacker.
“Shots fired! Shots fired!” Gill broadcast over his police radio, according to a recording released by the Sheriff’s Office.
As dispatchers tried frantically to get more information from Gill over the radio, they were met with silence: He had apparently fallen down an embankment. After two long minutes, he had made it back to the roadway, adrenaline still pumping through his veins.
Gill gave the dispatchers signs of life, saying, “I think I was hit,” into his radio.
He suffered non-life threatening injuries and was treated.
“He was very lucky, and very brave under fire,” Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith said
The deputy had stepped out of his patrol car at the Uvas Reservoir outside of Morgan Hill when two men in a car turned off the headlights, drove up to the deputy, and for whatever reason opened fire, NBC Bay Area reported.
“This was an ambush,” Sheriff Smith said. “Based on the evidence, it was an unprovoked attack on our deputy, and our suspect or suspects are wanted for premeditated attempted murder of a law enforcement officer.”
The deputy fired two rounds as the suspects sped away.
Investigators are also considering the possibility the incident was a hate crime, since Sukhdeep is a practicing Sikh, and wore a traditional headdress at the time of the ambush, Lt. Brandon Omori said during the press conference.
Was he ambushed because he’s a sheriff’s deputy, a Sikh, or both?
“We’re looking at all possibilities,” Lt. Omori said. “Deputy Gill is a practicing Sikh and he was wearing headdress and garb. We support him and his religious affiliation.”
Omori, who oversees the Sheriff’s homicide and major crimes units, said Gill’s patrol SUV, in the gaze of the suspect car’s headlights, would have been very clearly visible as a Sheriff’s vehicle, and that the deputy was in full uniform.
“This was a targeted attack,” Omori said.
It was not immediately clear whether Gill’s return fire hit anyone. Gill is now at home with his family, and looks to be in good spirits considering the circumstances, Omori said.
“Given the gravity of the situation, he’s doing quite well,” he said.
The sheriff’s office said it needs the public’s help to arrest the suspects, who were in an older model silver Honda Accord.
Anyone with information about the shooting can contact the Sheriff’s Office at 408-808-4500, or leave an anonymous tip at 408-808-4431.
