Law enforcement officers shot and wounded a Rancho Cordova man and his grandmother early Wednesday after the man allegedly pointed a pellet gun at officers, marking the fourth time in a month that police have fired on suspects in the Sacramento region.

The incident Wednesday began when authorities received a 911 hang-up call at 1:36 a.m. from a home in the 10900 block of Gadsten Way and heard an argument in the background.

Two officers, a Sacramento County sheriff's deputy and a Rancho Cordova police officer, went to the home and were confronted by Damian Dominick Lackey, 21, armed with what appeared to be a handgun, said sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran.

"They gave him multiple commands to drop the weapon," Curran said.

Lackey raised the gun and pointed it at the officers, Curran said. They shot at Lackey several times, hitting him once in the upper leg, Curran said.

Also hit was Lackey's 65-year-old grandmother, who lives at the home and was standing in the doorway behind him. She was shot in the calf, Curran said.

Both were treated at a hospital and are expected to recover.

When investigators recovered the weapon, they discovered it was an air pistol capable of shooting pellets or BBs, Curran said.

"It was a very realistic-looking weapon with a scope mounted on it," he said.

Investigators said Lackey, who at some point lived with his grandmother, returned and got into an argument with family members. He allegedly threatened his grandmother and an uncle with the weapon, which is why authorities were called, Curran said.

Lackey was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail.

The police officer, a six-year veteran with Rancho Cordova, and the deputy, who has been with the Sheriff's Department five years, were placed on paid administrative leave, which is department policy while an officer-involved shooting is investigated.

Rancho Cordova contracts with the Sheriff's Department for police services.

Wednesday's incident follows a string of officer-involved shootings around the region in recent weeks.

On Dec. 7, a 19-year-old Sacramento man died in a shootout with another Rancho Cordova police officer who was responding to a report of a domestic dispute at a Circle K convenience store. Donald Frederick Robinson allegedly fired on the officer, striking her bulletproof vest. She returned fire, but a coroner's investigation determined Robinson was killed by one of his own bullets.

On New Year's Day, Rocklin police and CHP officers shot and killed former firefighter Gregory Gifford, 54, who allegedly held up a mini-mart with a realistic-looking pellet gun, led officers on a chase through Placer County, then confronted them with a weapon when they hit a dead end.

On Jan. 4, Woodland police exchanged gunfire with a man accused of stalking his ex-wife and found hiding in her apartment. The man died from a gunshot wound to the head. The department's investigation indicates that the man died "of a gunshot wound from one of our officers," Woodland police spokesman Lt. Charlie Wilts said this morning.

In Wednesday's incident in Rancho Cordova, sheriff's spokesman Curran said the officers fired because they felt their lives were threatened.

Like many law enforcement agencies, the Sheriff's Department allows for use of deadly force in cases of self-defense, to protect the lives of others, or to prevent a suspect from escaping when the officer believes the suspect has committed or attempted to commit a violent crime that poses threat of death or serious injury.

The number of shootings involving Sacramento County sheriff's deputies declined to four last year, down from six in 2007.

Curran said it's sometimes the innocuous calls that turn violent. Case in point: the two officer-involved shootings in Rancho Cordova. One started as a report of a domestic fight, the other as a 911 hang-up call.

"We go on hundreds of 911 hang-ups every week," Curran said.

Despite what many in the public believe, most officers go their entire careers without firing their service weapons, said David Swim, an associate professor of criminal justice at California State University, Sacramento.

"I worked the streets for 17 years and never shot at anybody," said Swim, who retired as a captain from the Stockton Police Department.

Officers are trained to use escalating force to meet force, to react quickly and to avoid engaging in gunfire if possible, he said. "However, they're not trained to die. So when they discern threat, they're going to deploy the weaponry at their disposal to deal with that threat."

Call The Bee's Niesha Lofing, (916) 321-1270.