BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — As bullets flew, a Bakersfield police officer shielded a woman and led her to safety, according to newly-released reports.
Officer Adrian Rodas used vehicles for protection while moving the woman out of the line of fire as rounds were sprayed from an AR-15-style rifle, say the reports filed in Superior Court.
Rodas and the woman weren’t hit, and neither were other officers who described bullets passing near them during a six-hour standoff on Jan. 17 with a gunman holed up in a southwest Bakersfield house. Multiple officers exchanged gunfire with the shooter.
A nearby resident reported suffering a graze wound to his cheek, according to court documents. The resident, whose name is redacted, said he moved his family to a safe place in the house and was in the kitchen when he heard more gunfire and dropped for cover. He noticed bleeding and checked his face, then saw what appeared to be a 9mm round on the ground.
Several vehicles and homes were hit, the documents say. Dozens of rounds were fired.
Ricardo Firo, 59, eventually surrendered after officers deployed tear gas, the reports say. He’s being held without bail on multiple charges of attempted murder and assault with a gun on a peace officer, among other offenses.
When taken to Kern Medical, Firo told hospital staff, “I got an (expletive) kicking coming, I shot at the (expletive) cops,” the reports say.
A search of the home turned up an AR-15-style rifle with no serial number, a 9mm handgun with no serial number, numerous spent .223 and 9mm casings and numerous rounds of live ammunition, according to the reports.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled Thursday.
Police were dispatched after 8 p.m. to a report of a woman being held against her will by Firo, her ex-boyfriend. In a phone call to her brother, the woman said Firo threatened to shoot her in the bathtub if police arrived then go outside while armed to commit “suicide by cop,” according to the documents.
The brother said Firo had previously been arrested over a domestic violence incident in Port Hueneme, where his sister lives, the documents say. She had been visiting Firo in Bakersfield and, two days earlier, Firo put a gun to her head while threatening her, the man said his sister told him.
Officers arrived and made calls over a loudspeaker for Firo to surrender. About four minutes later, the woman left the home.
That’s when Firo opened fire, the reports say.
Rodas ushered the woman to safety and officers established a perimeter around the home and took cover behind patrol vehicles and other vehicles on the street. One officer said he heard a “snap or pop” go past his right ear, then multiple ricochets behind him, the documents say. Another officer said a round flew past his head.
It appears at least three homes and three civilian vehicles were hit by gunfire.
A SWAT team was called to the scene at about 9:20 p.m. Negotiations began around 11 p.m.
At 3:40 a.m., after roughly five hours of negotiations, SWAT officers deployed tear gas and Firo left by the front door and dropped to his knees, according to the documents. Handcuffed and taken to a patrol vehicle, Firo asked police why they hadn’t just killed him instead, the documents say.
