SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. — The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office on Friday identified a man who died in a shootout with deputies as a member of a white supremacist gang. Moreover, they said the suspect died after he waited in ambush for police.
Christopher Michael Straub — 38 of Templeton, California — fled from law enforcement, hid in a nearby cemetery and shot at deputies on Thursday morning, according to a press release from the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office.
“The suspect fled into the cemetery, hid behind some thick shrubbery and ambushed the deputy as they got closer,” Sheriff Ian Parkinson said Thursday.
The incident occurred after a deputy recognized Straub’s vacant vehicle as belonging to a wanted felon and tried to stop the suspect, who was walking in the area, Parkinson said.
Deputy Sheriff Richard “Ted” Lehnhoff was wounded in the leg during the ensuing gun battle, USA Today reported.
The shootout ended in Straub’s death as he returned to his vehicle — which was disabled — and attempted to get in it, presumably to retrieve loaded weapons stored there, Parkinson said.
Investigators located “four assault rifles, one bolt action hunting rifle, one shotgun, two handguns plus the handgun he used to shoot at deputies” in the vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office.
Straub was identified by the sheriff’s office as a member of a white supremacist gang on multiple occasions, but Parkinson declined to identify the gang, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reported.
After conducing a search warrant at his residence, investigators also discovered he was illegally manufacturing weapons parts.
Straub was booked into California jails more than two dozen times and was being investigated by the Sheriff’s Gang Task Force before Thursday’s incident, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office.
Lehnhoff underwent surgery on Thursday and is recovering the sheriff’s office said.
Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said Straub was sentenced in San Luis Obispo County in August 2008 to two years for receiving stolen property and writing checks with insufficient funds. He was paroled in June 2009, SanLuisObispo.com reported.
While out on parole, Straub was again sentenced in February 2010 to two years for possession of a firearm by an ex-felon and a one-year enhancement for having a new offense while out on parole.
