2 Dead After Shooting, 3-Hour Standoff In Sonoma County: Police

SANTA ROSA, CA — Two people are dead after a shooting that killed one, a pursuit across Sonoma County and an hours-long standoff that occurred overnight and ended with the discovery of a second body, according to police.

Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies responded around 4:45 p.m. Saturday to a report of a shooting in the 300 block of Cloverdale Heights Way in Cloverdale and found a person with a gunshot wound who died at the scene, authorities said.

Witnesses helped detectives identify the shooter as Lawrence Cassidy, 56, of Cloverdale, who had fled in a Ford SUV, which police later discovered in Healdsburg, according to authorities.

Investigators learned Cassidy had been driven from Healdsburg to a residence in the 1500 block of Brush Creek Road in Santa Rosa, police said, and a SWAT team, hostage negotiators and a bomb unit were deployed to the home around 1:30 a.m. Sunday.

Two people were safely removed from the home, but a three-hour standoff ensued, during which multiple rounds were fired from inside the residence, one of which may have hit an armored vehicle occupied by SWAT personnel, according to police, who said no deputies were injured.

SWAT personnel deployed chemical agents, hoping for a peaceful surrender, authorities said, adding negotiators repeatedly tried to contact Cassidy by telephone and loudspeaker, but he refused to communicate or exit the home.

Authorities eventually used a drone and bomb-disposal robot with a camera to see inside the home, entered the residence and found a man dead, the sheriff’s office said in a social media post Sunday afternoon. The sheriff’s office did not explicitly identify the man as Cassidy but did state in a previous social media post updated Sunday morning that they had located Cassidy in Santa Rosa.

A shelter-in-place order was issued for the surrounding neighborhood during the standoff, police said.

The Petaluma Police Department and Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office have been asked to conduct an independent investigation of the incident in accordance with Sonoma County Employee-Involved Critical Incident Protocol, according to the sheriff’s office.