‘Has the gun to her head’: Police audio reveals gunman’s demands in Roseville hostage shooting

The call went out from Roseville police dispatchers around 12:30 p.m. Thursday – a shooting at the city’s 255-acre Mahany Park where residents gather for walks, visits to a dog park, a library and baseball fields.

“Shots fired, shots fired,” a dispatcher warned. “Multiple shots fired.”

Hours later, Roseville police would describe a violent outburst that left a citizen dead after being taken hostage, while a California Highway Patrol officer and the hostage’s wife were both wounded. Meanwhile the suspect suffered gunshot wounds after a standoff with law enforcement in a creekbed in the park at Pleasant Grove and Woodcreek Oaks boulevards.

Police on Friday afternoon identified the suspect as Eric J. Abril, 35, who remains hospitalized. James MacEgan was identified as the victim who was fatally wounded. Both are Roseville residents.

The other injured hostage was not named by the department but identified in a statement as MacEgan’s spouse. The injured CHP officer was not identified.

Authorities have given only bare bones descriptions of how the drama unfolded where children were taking part in spring break camps and teens were swinging baseball bats inside batting cages.

“It was a rapidly evolving situation and occurred within a couple of minutes of the initial broadcast of the CHP officer being struck by gunfire,” Roseville police Capt. Kelby Newton told reporters at a briefing in a parking lot near where the shootings occurred. “There were people out and about, walking on the trails in the area.”

Newton said it was unclear at the time whether the CHP officer had fired or what kind of weapon the suspect used, but said the gunman shot his hostages, one who died at the scene and another who was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Police in Friday’s statement said gunfire was exchanged between law enforcement officers and the suspect, but it was not immediately clear whether shots were fired by Roseville police, CHP officers or both.

Police radio dispatches recorded by Broadcastify.com painted a frantic scene of passersby ducking for cover, a gunman taking two hostages and then shooting them, one of them a 71-year-old woman who apparently was out for a walk with her husband, MacEgan.

Started with search warrant

Newton told reporters Thursday afternoon that the incident began with a CHP task force officer attempting to serve an arrest warrant on a suspect.

Newton did not reveal the nature of the warrant or the details of the CHP officer’s interaction with the suspect, but said law enforcement rushed to the park after the CHP officer radioed in that he had been shot.

“Initial chest wound, ricochet into an extremity,” a dispatcher said in describing reports of how the CHP officer, who was said to be in “stable” condition late Thursday, was hit.

The alleged shooter was the “suspect of an ongoing felony investigation,” the CHP’s Auburn office said in a news release Friday. CHP officers contacted him near Mahany Park around 12:30 p.m. in an attempt to serve a search warrant. The CHP’s statement did not disclose the nature of the warrant.

The suspect fled on foot and shot at officers while running to a greenbelt area, striking one CHP officer as he ran, the agency wrote.

Dispatch audio described the gunman wearing a black shirt and gray pants running and firing a handgun as firefighters at Station 5 inside the park saw what was happening and rushed out to help.

“Be advised we have one shot in the chest directly outside Station 5,” someone said on police audio. “We’re bringing them inside Station 5 now.

‘Officer down, shot’

“We have an officer down, shot... You got one officer down. Station 5, you’re providing care for him right now.”

As firefighters tended to the wounded officer, the gunman ran toward a ravine in the park, followed by two dogs, according to the audio.

Once there, the suspect allegedly took two people hostage, police said.

Dispatch audio reported the suspect was calling police from the scene warning officers to back off while he held a woman at gunpoint.

“We are getting an incoming call from the suspect,” a dispatcher said. “He has a female in the creek.

“She is with the person with a gun and has the gun to her head. He is telling the female to tell us to back up or he will shoot her.”

By then, law enforcement officials from across the Sacramento region were rushing to the scene, helicopters were hovering overhead and three armored Bearcat police vehicles were en route.

As police swarmed the area, the suspect continued to warn them to stay away, according to dispatch audio.

Demands ambulance, threatens to shoot helicopter

“Update, the male shot another male with this female and he’s saying no drones, no helicopter,” a voice on the dispatch audio said.

“He is demanding one ambulance with one person in it for, uh, the female,” another voice said. “He’s saying he will shoot at the helicopter. He can hear it overhead.”

By then, police were rallying hostage rescue teams and sending officers to find a clear line of sight for the suspect, who was trying to hide in bushes in the creek bed and warning that he would hurt his hostages, according to dispatch audio.

“If the ambulance does not come he will shoot the husband and the hostage and himself,” a dispatcher said.

“We are getting an incoming call from the suspect,” a dispatcher said. “He has a female in the creek.

“She is with the person with a gun and has the gun to her head. He is telling the female to tell us to back up or he will shoot her.”

“He’s saying he will shoot at the helicopter,” according to dispatch audio. “He can hear it overhead.”

Dispatch audio indicated that at least one of the two hostages taken was a 71-year-old woman who had been shot.

The audio also included indications that police were in negotiations with the suspect before he surrendered.

“He says he will throw the gun away if we bring him an ambulance,” a dispatcher says. “The male’s now giving us a time limit of 10 minutes or less.”

“We’re making verbal communication with him,” another voice on police audio said. “There’s a male and a female with him and they’re coming out.

“He’s walking out with a hostage.”

Minutes later, a voice announced that the standoff was over.

“We have the suspect detained,” a voice on police audio says. “We’re doing CPR on the male (victim) and the female (victim) is getting medical care.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2023 at 7:30 AM.