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Sheriff's Deputy Shot in California as Tense Standoff Continues

Aired August 31, 2001 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Once again, back to California with you. Let's take a look. We were looking at some pictures here shortly ago, and we were seeing some smoke coming from the house, and we're not sure what that's from, whether that's tear gas that's been lobbed in, or out. And now it looks like a lot of that has dissipated, of what we were seeing just moments ago here in Santa Clarita.

We're about 30 miles north of Los Angeles where earlier we thought two people were shot, and now, the one that's confirmed, though, is that one deputy from L.A. sheriff's department has been shot.

Now we see a little bit more smoke, and an ATF agent might have been shot, but that is unconfirmed.

Special weapons unit and negotiators were talking to the man who's inside. Apparently, they were serving a search warrant on his home, and shot and wounded at least one person that we have confirmed at this point. This is courtesy of KTTV, our affiliate there, and he is in this house.

As we told you earlier, special weapons units and negotiators are talking to him, and we don't know the situation in the house. We don't know of any demands at this point, or whether he's just -- when they came to arrest him, that he shot back at them.

We'll keep you updated on what's happening here, as they continue to negotiate and we continue to watch the situation in Santa Clarita, California.

Back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KELLEY: Welcome back. We're continuing to monitor here on CNN what's happening in California, in Santa Clarita.

There was a man -- now you can see the smoke billowing out a side window. We've seen smoke coming out the front, and we've also seen, as you've looked at your screen straight on, we've seen quite a bit of smoke come out of those top, right-hand windows earlier. And we say, we're not sure what that smoke is. It may be tear gas, it may be lobbed in, lobbed out. We don't know, but we wanted to monitor the picture and keep you updated on the story.

Apparently, it happened at about quarter to 9:00 local time in California this morning when ATF agents and L.A. County sheriff's deputies arrived on the scene. They were trying to serve the search warrant on a man, and apparently, he fired back, and at least one person was hit, a deputy, an L.A. County sheriff's deputy hit in the face area, and they've taken him to the hospital.

Could be, but unconfirmed -- there we are, highlighting where you can see the smoke on the back upper right-hand window. Unconfirmed that the ATF also agent shot, that special weapons units and negotiators are trying to talk to this man who they were trying to serve a search warrant on earlier today, and they were there to arrest him on charges of impersonating an officer and firearms violations.

As we told you before, but if you're just joining us, don't know if anybody else is in the house with them. They evacuated several of those houses around that area, and a report says also this person inside, they've confirmed, officials have confirmed, that this gunman fired at a fire department helicopter that was hovering above this scene that we're watching right now.

So we will continue to watch the story for you, see if we can update it whenever we can with more of the facts here -- Natalie.

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