Sacramento deputies find man, assault rifle, bullets and police tactical gear at motel
Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies arrested a man they found at a North Highlands motel with an assault rifle, a semiautomatic handgun, bullets, badges and tactical gear with police insignia, officials said.
The tactical gear, however, is generic and doesn’t appear to have belonged to a law enforcement official or agency, said sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Rodney Grassmann. He also said the security guard badges could have been bought or taken from any store that sold them, along with the tactical gear.
“If someone has that that stuff it’s still a concern,” Grassmann said about anyone using that gear and pretending to be a police officer. “It certainly can be troublesome.”
The guns, ammunition and tactical gear were found in a motel room following a two-and-half-hour standoff after the suspect refused to come out of the room. The motel, the Super 8, is located in the 4300 block of Madison Avenue.
About 7:20 a.m. Thursday, dispatchers received a call from a security guard at the motel who reported that he had looked into the window of one of the rooms and saw weapons, high-capacity ammunition magazines and a silencer on the bed, the Sheriff’s Office announced in a news release Friday. The security guard told dispatchers that the room should’ve been vacant.
Deputies arrived at the motel and found a man, later identified as Daniel Philip Cordero, inside the room. Sheriff’s officials said Cordero, 32, of Galt, was known to law enforcement.
Cordero was initially uncooperative and refused to come out of the room, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s Special Enforcement Detail and Critical Incident Negotiation Team were called to the motel to help deputies evacuate adjacent rooms and work on getting Cordero out of the room.
The negotiators eventually convinced Cordero to walk out of the room, where deputies detained him without further incident. Nobody else was inside the room with Cordero.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for the motel room and a vehicle belonging to Cordero. In the room, investigators found an AR-15 rifle modified to be considered an assault rifle, a semiautomatic handgun, bullets, extended ammunition magazines, a gun silencer and equipment for a bullet-proof vest.
Grassmann said it was unclear whether the guns and tactical gear were stolen or simply bought somewhere; it was still an ongoing investigation. All of the items found in the motel room were being kept as evidence in the sheriff’s property warehouse.
Cordero was arrested and remained in custody at the Sacramento County Jail Friday morning. He faces charges of being a felon in possession of a gun and ammunition, removing a serial number from a gun, possessing an assault weapon, possessing a large capacity ammunition magazine and possessing a gun silencer, according to jail records.
Sheriff’s officials said investigators on Friday believed no other suspects were involved.
