Sacramento sheriff releases video of shootout with man suspected of killing woman
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday afternoon released video footage and audio recordings of what unfolded as deputies exchanged gunfire with a man suspected of shooting a woman calling for help moments earlier.
The shootout occurred Aug. 22 in the 100 block of Dutchess Way in the Centennial Estates complex near Mills Station Road in Rancho Cordova.
The video released Thursday includes an audio recording of the call from the woman to sheriff’s dispatchers and radio traffic, along with video from camera in a sheriff’s vehicle.
Christopher Walker of Sacramento died after the gunfight with deputies, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Walker, 29, was shot two times by deputies during the gunfight and suffered an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, sheriff’s officials have said.
In the edited video released Thursday, which includes introductions and narration from officials, sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Tess Deterding says Walker was armed with a Glock 22 handgun “with several loaded magazines.” She said the gun was reported stolen by Walker’s mother a month earlier.
In 2014, Walker was arrested in Nevada on suspicion of possessing a concealed gun and child pornography, according to Deterding. She said he was later convicted of those charges, ordered to register as a sex offender and not allowed to possess a gun. He was on probation when the shootout occurred.
Extensive mental health problems
Walker also had a history of extensive mental health problems, which included depression and suicidal ideation, Deterding said in the video. Suicidal ideation means Walker either spoke about or thought about taking his own life.
In a news release issued Thursday, sheriff’s officials said Betty Lou Winn Spirk called authorities about 7 p.m. that night to report a gunman in her home, and the man had pointed the gun at her and told her to leave.
“He’s on parole and won’t leave,” Spirk told a dispatcher. “In the kitchen, living room telling me to get the f--- out of my house.”
Initially, sheriff’s officials said the call for help that evening came from the suspect’s grandmother. But they have made it clear that Spirk, 58, was not Walker’s grandmother. They said Spirk lived in the home with Walker’s grandmother.
Sheriff’s deputies arrived six minutes after the call from Spirk at the Centennial Estates complex and coordinated their approach toward the home. Deterding said two deputies armed themselves with rifles, and a sergeant and a deputy approached with less-than-lethal weapons.
The sergeant and the deputies could not see Spirk, who had told a dispatcher that she was outside. The dispatcher told deputies Spirk had already hung up, so the dispatcher was going to try to call back.
The dashboard camera from the sheriff’s vehicle shows the deputies searching for Spirk as they approached the front of the home. Shortly after, the deputies are seen running away from the view of the camera.
The video then cuts to a digitally created map indicating the movements of the suspect, the sheriff’s sergeant and the deputies. The video accompanied by a narration from Deterding of what happened next.
Deterding said the deputies ran down the road of the complex as Walker unknowingly approached them from the rear of the home toward the front. She said Walker was then spotted in a carport before he ran back toward the rear of the home.
Shot as she stood on front porch
Walker then ran around the back the home and turned the far corner and shot Spirk four times “as she stood on the front porch,” Deterding said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Walker then engaged the sergeant with gunfire, Deterding said. At that point, Walker could have escaped north onto Mills Station Road or continued west through the back yard, she said.
Instead, Walker crouched behind an air conditioning unit and “waited to ambush anyone who set foot in the backyard,” Deterding said. Deputy Eric Schmidt then tried to enter the yard from the east side of the home and was immediately struck twice in the lower body by Walker’s gunfire, she said.
The critically injured deputy retreated to a position of cover. Deterding said Walker then re-engaged the sergeant with more gunfire. The sergeant remained on the west side near the front of the home, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
After another volley of gunfire ended with the sergeant, Walker moved back to the east side of the home and shot at the injured Schmidt and two other deputies with more gunfire, Deterding said. The deputies immediately returned gunfire.
Walker then moved back to the west of the home to re-engage the sergeant with more gunfire, Deterding said. The video then cuts back to the view from the dashboard camera as numerous shots are heard and about 20 seconds before deputies report that Schmidt had been injured.
Injured deputy hobbled away to safety
The video then shows the gunfire end as deputies ask for medics to stage nearby and for authorities to surround the area to make sure the suspect does not escape. A dispatcher is heard on radio traffic telling the deputies that any other available police agency in the area is being called to respond with backup.
Deterding said in the video that the deputies then looked for any movement near the back of the home, where Walker was last spotted.
“It was not safe for deputies to approach at this time, as they did not know if the suspect was lying in wait to ambush additional deputies,” Deterding said.
The deputies then decided to move Schmidt out from where he took cover on the east side of the home and get him immediate medical treatment. An injured Schmidt is seen hobbling on one leg as one deputy helped him walk and another deputy holding a ballistic shield provided them cover.
Schmidt was shot in the leg, hitting a major artery. The deputy underwent surgery that night, according to the Sheriff’s Office, and has since been released from the hospital.
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 6:18 PM.
