Crime & Safety

Santa Rosa Officer Shoots Robber Outside Armored Truck Facility

The officer-involved shooting happened just before 3 a.m. Friday at GardaWorld.

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — An officer-involved shooting early Friday at an armored car facility in southwest Santa Rosa left one person injured, Santa Rosa police say. The shooting happened at GardaWorld, 1650 Northpoint Parkway, as police were responding to a 2:51 a.m. report that a hold-up alarm had gone off at the business.

One officer — driving a marked patrol vehicle and in full uniform — arrived on scene at 2:56 a.m. and saw two possible suspects in the hold-up walking out of the business, Santa Rosa police Lt. John Cregan said in a news release.

"At least one of the suspects was armed with a handgun, and brandished the firearm at the officer," Cregan said. "The officer fired multiple shots at the armed suspect. The suspect was struck by the officer’s gunshots, and ran to a nearby creek."

Find out what's happening in Rohnert Park-Cotatifor free with the latest updates from Patch.

More officers arrived on scene and located a gun near the injured suspect, Cregan said.

The wounded suspect was taken to a local hospital and is expected to survive the injuries, the lieutenant said.

Find out what's happening in Rohnert Park-Cotatifor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Police say no one else was injured in the incident.

Two GardaWorld employees were present and told police that two people had entered the business, one of whom was armed with a handgun.

"The suspects threatened the employees with the firearm in an attempt to rob them of the currency stored at that facility," Cregan said.

Officers found the second suspect hiding inside GardaWorld and arrested him.

It was not clear if the suspects were initially successful in obtaining any cash from GardaWorld, which provides armored truck transport and ATM services for financial institutions and other agencies in public and government sectors.

Police did not disclose the name of the officer involved in the shooting but said the officer is on administrative leave while the incident is investigated. The Santa Rosa Police Department is conducting the investigation with the assistance of investigators from the Petaluma Police Department and the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office.

Photo credit: Yevhen Prozhyrko/Shutterstock.com

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.