Crime & Safety

Evidence Recovered at Scene of EBRPD Shootout; One 'Active' Grow Site in the Area

Members of the East Bay Regional Parks District Special Response Team have recovered shell casings from the site of Monday's attack on an officer — and aerial surveillance has determined that there is at least one marijuana grow site in the area.

Officers returning to the scene of  between a patrolling East Bay Regional Park District police officer and at least one armed subject found shell casings from a "high powered assault rifle" — and evidence of a marijuana grow in the area.

Capt. Mark Ruppenthal said the attack has been classified as the attempted murder of a police officer and the investigation remains "active and open." Searches of the San Leandro watershed south of Moraga are ongoing and will continue both in the air and on the ground as needed, Ruppenthal said.

"This was a very serious incident and we do not take these things lightly," he said Thursday.

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In a prepared release, Ruppenthal reported that an EBRPD team returned to the crime scene — a largely inaccessible area miles south of Moraga — on Wednesday, July 27, and "recovered evidence of the firefight between the suspects and the officer including expended firearms ammunition casings from a high powered assault rifle."

That evidence was recovered and will be sent to a crime lab for analysis.

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Other areas of the watershed will continue to be searched by EBRPD and Alameda County SWAT teams on an ongoing basis, Ruppenthal said. The area where the shootout occurred is several miles south of Moraga but within Alameda County. Ground and aerial searches have been hampered due to changing weather conditions and the challenging terrain.

Ruppenthal said overflights of the area have determined that there is "at least one" active marijuana cultivation site in the vicinity of Monday's shootout. He added that it is not known if the incident was directly related to marijuana cultivation or other illicit activity in the area.

"I never said anything about the Mexican Mafia in connection with this case," he said. "We can't say if any group is involved or if the officer just came upon something he shouldn't have... we just don't know."

Ruppenthal reiterated that the park district is handling the investigation into the shooting, with support from other agencies.

Earlier this summer, police found about 3,300 plants in a remote ravine in the Las Trampas Regional Wilderness, in an area between Castro Valley and San Ramon. 


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