BREAKING: 38-Year-Old Police Officer Damon Gutzwiller Killed in Ambush; 2 Other Officers Injured

An ambush by gunfire and explosives is clearly pre-meditated.

However, what makes this case even more interesting is that another police officer in a separate case was killed in a similar matter.

The FBI is now investigating whether the murders of these two officers in California are connected.

CNN explains:

The FBI is investigating whether the shooting deaths of two California officers are related, including the Saturday shooting of a Santa Cruz County deputy.

A sergeant with the Santa Cruz Sheriff's Office was killed in a shooting in Ben Lomond Saturday, and two other officers were hurt during an ambush involving a suspect with explosive devices, Sheriff Jim Hart said.

In the other incident, a federal security officer was killed in a shooting May 29 in Oakland, and another officer was injured.

"The investigation into the incident in Ben Lomond, Calif. is ongoing," the FBI San Francisco office told CNN in a statement. "We are working with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department to determine a possible motive and/or links to other crimes committed in the Bay Area, to include the shooting of the FPS officers in Oakland."

The suspect in the Santa Cruz shooting is an active duty sergeant at Travis Air Force Base, according to 2nd Lt. Mike Longoria, public affairs officer for the base.

The FBI is seeking information about a white van that may be linked to the crime in Oakland.

Around 1:30 pm on Saturday, Santa Cruz deputies responded to a call about a suspicious van parked off the road. The caller saw guns and bomb-making materials inside the van, according to the sheriff's department.

When deputies arrived at the scene, the van was seen leaving the area. Deputies followed the vehicle until it arrived at a residence in Ben Lomond.

Deputies were then ambushed with gunfire and multiple improvised explosives, leaving one deputy dead and others injured, the sheriff's department said in a press release.

38-year-old Sergeant Damon Gutzwiller was shot and taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Gutzwiller had been with the sheriff's department since 2006, Hart said.

Another deputy was struck by a car as the suspect fled the property and either shot or struck by shrapnel, Hart added.

After the suspect fled, the county received calls about a carjacking. When officers got to that area, the suspect was shot while being arrested.

The suspect reportedly was armed. He survived and was treated and released from the hospital, according to the press release.

The suspect faces charges for the murder of Gutzwiller and other felonies, the department said.

This was the first death of a police officer in Santa Cruz in 4 decades.

The last time a police officer was attacked and killed was in the 1980s. 

Residents are rattled and worried over what's to come. 

The anti-police rhetoric happening at many protests and riots around the nation is certainly not helping the situation.

What's particularly scary is that the suspect is Steven Carrillo.

Carillo is an active duty sergeant stationed at Travis Air Force Base.

It is currently unknown whether Carrillo was acting alone or had accomplices.

Those who serve our country are supposed to be protecting Americans and helping maintain law and order.

If the charges are true, how tragic that he would turn on a fellow citizen.

The LA Times confirms that Carrillo is the primary suspect:

At the scene, authorities arrested and booked Steven Carrillo, who was later identified as an active-duty sergeant stationed at Travis Air Force Base. Carrillo, 32, was a member of the 60th Security Forces Squadron, according to a Travis Air Force Base spokesman.

Law enforcement officials said they were unsure whether Carrillo had been acting alone and whether the explosives in his car were part of a larger plot he planned to carry out. The FBI said it was looking into potential links to previous incidents, including the one late last month in Oakland.

On the night of May 29, Dave Patrick Underwood, 53, was shot and killed while working as a security officer at the federal courthouse in Oakland, employed by the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Service. Another officer who was present was injured, officials said.

The FBI, already investigating the Underwood case, is now trying to determine the motive behind the Santa Cruz County incident, as well as “links to other crimes committed in the Bay Area, to include the shooting of the FPS officers in Oakland,” a spokesperson said in an email.

Carrillo, the suspect in the Santa Cruz case, came to Travis Air Force Base in June 2018, a month after his wife died, according to authorities and obituaries. His wife, Monika Leigh Scott Carrillo, was also in the Air Force. She was found dead in May 2018 in what was ruled a suicide while stationed in South Carolina, according to the Air Force.

Monika Carrillo, 30, had been married to Steven Carrillo for nine years, and they had a son and daughter together, according to an obituary posted online.

On Saturday, Steven Carrillo was reportedly shot during his arrest and then treated at a hospital, Hart said. He will be charged with murder, assault with a deadly weapon and several other felony charges, the sheriff said.

The violent rhetoric against law enforcement must stop.

If we want peace and equality for all, then we must all live out those virtues.

The acts of a few radicals should not undermine what the rest of us strive to accomplish.

Better days are ahead, but we must seek justice for those who purposefully carry out acts of violence and harm.