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Pinned Down Officer Hit In Chest During Trailer Park Shootout
Published 3 years ago
Deputies from the Perris Sheriff's Department were conducting a traffic stop on March 20, 2021 when a suspect, later identified as 28-year-old Cristian Alejandro Castaneda, allegedly pointed a loaded pistol at deputies and pulled the trigger. The pistol, however, is said to have malfunctioned and failed to shoot, causing Castaneda to return to his car and flee.
After fleeing the scene, Castaneda abandoned his car and fled on foot, leaving behind a passenger who was apprehended by the Sheriff's Department. Castaneda's current residence was later found by deputies on the 100 block of Bond Road in Perris.
The next day, March 21, 2021 Deputies arrived at the residence to serve Castaneda with a search warrant for his arrest. As deputies were removing the occupants of the house in preparation for Castaneda's arrest, gunshots were fired at the deputies from inside the house. Three deputies took cover behind a truck in the driveway with the home's occupants, while two other deputies are pinned down in the front yard, seen in the body camera footage.
Deputies in the front yard are seen being shot at from a corner room in the house, causing them to shoot back. One deputy was hit in the chest by a .40 caliber round and was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Luckily, the deputies bulletproof vest absorbed the energy from the round and mitigated the potential damage.
Perris Sherriff's Department armored vehicles then arrived at the residence, providing protection for the pinned deputies and residents. After a long standoff, the Sheriff's Department sent a robot inside the building, where Castaneda was found dead with a loaded.40 caliber semi-automatic weapon. The OIS incident of March 21 is still under investigation to help determine if Castaneda’s wound lethal wound was self-inflicted or caused by the deputy’s return fire.