‘This was not a win.’ Paso Robles manhunt ends with suspect dead, officers wounded

In a grueling end to a two-day manhunt, police shot and killed a man they say killed a homeless man in Paso Robles and shot a San Luis Obispo County sheriff’s deputy in the face.

Mason James Lira, 26, died during a shootout in Templeton on Thursday afternoon, a day after he opened fire on the Paso Robles Police Department and kicked off a multi-day search through the city and into the Salinas riverbed.

By the end of Thursday, three more officers had been injured and local law enforcement agencies had clashed with Lira a handful of times at locations across the area.

Lira, a homeless man who most recently lived in the Monterey area, had a history of mental illness, his father told The Associated Press.

At a press conference Thursday night, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said Lira’s death was not the outcome he would have wanted.

“We wanted a peaceful ending to this,” Parkinson said. “That is not our job to pronounce sentence. We were hoping for nothing more than him to give up ... come out of the bushes and say ‘I give up.’”

”I feel that he’s the one that made that decision and forced our hand to make that decision,” Parkinson said.

Paso Robles Police Chief Ty Lewis, whose station was first attacked, said he was relieved to finally put the incident to rest.

“I know that the community has felt a lot of angst and a lot of fear, and I’m glad that this is finally over,” he said during the conference. “It’s been a really tough go.”

Arroyo Grande officer hit by bullet

Early Wednesday morning, the Sheriff’s Office said, Lira ambushed the Paso Robles Police Department, killed a 59-year-old homeless man (who has yet to be identified) near the city’s train station, and shot SLO County Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholas Dreyfus. Dreyfus is recovering from his injuries at a hospital outside the county.

Through much of Wednesday day and into the night, law enforcement scoured the city for Lira.

That night at around 10:20 p.m., reports of shots fired on Spring Street brought officers to the scene, where they found Lira, Parkinson said at the Thursday news conference. Lira fled into a nearby apartment complex, and despite being surrounded, later escaped into the riverbed and fled south, Parkinson said.

The next time Lira was spotted was around 2 a.m. at the Chevron gas station on Ramada Drive, where he bought an energy drink. He fired upon the officers who responded, Parkinson said, before once again fleeing again into the riverbed.

Then things were quiet as police fanned out in a broad search — until Thursday afternoon.

At the press conference, Parkinson said authorities formulated a plan Thursday morning to surround and systematically search the riverbed, beginning at the Paso Robles fairgrounds and working south toward Templeton High School.

Around 2 p.m. however, Lira revealed himself from a hiding space in the riverbed near Volpi Ysabel Road and Ramada Drive, shooting an Arroyo Grande Police Department officer who was in the area to help with the search.

According to a city of Arroyo Grande news release Thursday afternoon and the sheriff, the officer was hit in the calf and suffered a non-life threatening injury.

As helicopters, planes and a drone buzzed overheard, police converged on the area and quickly set up a perimeter.

Lira was surrounded.

More shots fired along Ramada Drive

Additional shots echoed out of the riverbed at around 4:11 p.m.

A series of rapid-fire gunshots could be heard ringing across the vineyards coming from the riverbed area along Ramada Drive between Templeton and San Luis Obispo. From a distance, the volley of shots sounded like firecrackers, witnesses said.

Law enforcement officials from a variety of agencies stationed themselves along Ramada Drive.

Shortly after the shots were fired, law enforcement vehicles rushed to the riverbed to assist, sirens blaring.

“I think that just resolved the situation,” a police official standing by the assembled group of media onlookers commented.

According to Parkinson, at that point Lira emerged from hiding once again and scaled a small hill on the riverbank, heading toward a nearby vineyard.

In the process, he shot and injured two more officers.

A CHP officer was shot in the chest, though his bullet-proof vest saved him from a more serious injury. And a Kings County deputy was shot in the leg while attempting to help the fallen CHP officer. Both were evacuated from the area and are being treated at local hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries.

In the fray, Lira was shot. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Questions remain about gunman’s motives

Much is still unknown about the situation, authorities asserted during Thursday’s press conference.

When asked what Lira’s motives could possibly have been for the rampage through town, Parkinson said that was still unclear, though he did note he felt the attack was specifically targeted against law enforcement.

“We can all guess, but the reality is that is part of our investigation,” he said.

On Thursday, Lira’s father, Jose Lira, told The Associated Press he believed the attack on the Paso Robles Police Department was a suicide attempt, rather than a rampage against the police.

Jose Lira said his son had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, Asperger’s syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and had been in and out of jail and treatment centers, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

Lira also often thought he was a special agent or soldier, his father said.

“He lives in a fantasy world,” Jose Lira said. “He doesn’t have a beef with the police.”

Lira had a minor past criminal history and a social media account that included bizarre ramblings and photos of guns.

Several times during the conference, both Parkinson and Lewis alluded to the current national conversation surrounding law enforcement and questions of police brutality, with Parkinson describing it as an “anti-law enforcement” climate.

Though he had previously mentioned that climate during an earlier press conference regarding Lira’s alleged spree, at Thursday’s conference, Parkinson said he could not speculate whether it was a factor.

“I don’t know what motivated him to do this, whether that encouraged him in this behavior, or if he was simply predisposed to this,” Parkinson said. “Hopefully, we’ll find out more.”

It is also unclear why Lira chose Paso Robles specifically.

During their investigation, authorities found evidence Lira may have been living in a crawl space near a Paso Robles movie theater for several days prior to the incident.

Within the grated storm drain, Lewis said police found evidence they say connected Lira to the police station attack as well as to a commercial burglary in San Luis Obispo a few days ago.

Two handguns found in Lira’s possession were thought to be stolen during that burglary June 9, a day before the attack on the Paso Robles Police Department.

Templeton on lockdown

While police worked to apprehend Lira on Thursday afternoon, Templeton was locked down, and the county sent reverse 911 calls and texts to residents within two miles of Volpi Ysabel Road and Ramada Drive.

Several businesses in south Paso Robles also closed and secured their employees inside.

Austin Muro of Kirk Construction was working in the south Paso Robles area when the shootout between Lira and law enforcement officers erupted.

“We were working — helicopters flew over,” Muro said. “I shut the equipment off so I could hear a little better. And as soon as we heard a ‘pop, pop, pop’ and then got the all guys ... we high-tailed to cover. And then everyone started rolling up with sirens. I hope he’s down. I hope they got him. He’s a bad man.”

A California Highway Patrol officer said that he was stationed on the north end of the site and did not see Lira when the fatal shots were fired.

The officer said he heard that Lira came running out of a hiding area in the riverbed when fatal shots were fired.

“It was a Butch Cassidy situation,” the officer said.

Assemblyman says community was ‘terrorized’ by ordeal

Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham issued a statement on the manhunt and shooting Thursday evening, saying the community has been “terrorized” by the ordeal.

“The events of the last two days are finally over, but the repercussions are ongoing,” he said. “Several officers are wounded, one innocent man was killed senselessly, and our community has been terrorized.”

Cunningham thanked everyone involved in locating and stopping Lira and said he would pray for the victims and their families.

“Our entire community is pulling for your recovery, and grateful for your courage and self-sacrifice,” he said.

Speaking during the Thursday press conference, Parkinson and Lewis both thanked all local law enforcement agencies for coming together during their time of need, while urging people to keep the injured officers in their thoughts.

“They are heroes and they need to be recognized as such,” Lewis said.

But Parkinson had some words of caution for the public:

“This was not a win,” he said. “This was an end to something we wish didn’t happen. ... The only positive is this community is safe tonight.”

This story was originally published June 11, 2020 at 3:35 PM with the headline "‘This was not a win.’ Paso Robles manhunt ends with suspect dead, officers wounded."