UPDATE: Photos of Paso Robles shooting suspect released

[PeteS in CA]

https://www.ksby.com/news/local-news/shots-fired-at-paso-robles-police-department-active-crime-scene

UPDATE: Photos of Paso Robles shooting suspect released

Authorities released photos of the suspect Wednesday afternoon. The man is described as approximately 5'8" and 150-160 pounds with dark curly hair and a beard.
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At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, Sheriff Parkinson described the incident as an “unprovoked attack on law enforcement” by a suspect “laying in ambush” at the police department.

The shooting reportedly started outside the police department at about 3:15 a.m. Paso Robles Police Chief Ty Lewis says a dispatcher monitoring the department’s security cameras saw a suspicious person walking around the building and then start shooting.
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Parkinson says two sheriff’s deputies who arrived at the scene together came under fire at 4:19 a.m. and one of the deputies was shot in the face. The second deputy reportedly returned fire at the shooter.

The injured deputy, a two-year veteran of the department, was flown to a trauma center in another county and is in serious but stable condition, according to Parkinson.
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Police are also investigating a homicide that they believe to be connected to the shooting.
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Authorities say the man was a transient who had been camping in the area. He was reportedly shot in the back of the head in what Chief Lewis says appears to be an unprovoked attack.

Paso Robles is a good sized town on US 101, about half an hour north of San Luis Obispo. It's also at the junction of US 101 and SR 46, which is a fairly nice highway that connects to I-5 in the San Joaquin Valley. So there are several fairly quick ways of access/egress if the shooter is not local.

[PeteS in CA]

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/06/10/san-luis-obispo-county-deputy-shot-paso-robles-active-shooter/

Authorities Identify Suspect Who Shot Deputy In Paso Robles Ambush, Killed Second Victim

PASO ROBLES (CBS SF) — The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Wednesday evening identified the man suspected of shooting a deputy in the head during a targeted “ambush” at a Paso Robles police station and killing a second victim hours later.

The sheriff’s office issued an update at around 9:30 p.m. that identified the shooting suspect as 26-year-old Mason James Lira, a transient from the Monterey area.
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The deputy was airlifted to a trauma center out of the area. The sheriff’s office was not releasing his name but said he is a two-year veteran of the agency.

“He’s not out of the woods,” Parkinson said. “This is very serious.”

Police and the sheriff’s office were pursuing leads and asked anyone with surveillance video related to the shootings contact authorities.

“We feel very confident the suspect is no longer in our area,” said Paso Robles Police Chief Ty Lewis.

[PeteS in CA]

https://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/2020/06/11/paso-robles-shooting-suspect-has-valley-ties-manhunt-underway/5344607002/

UPDATE: Paso Robles shooting suspect killed during standoff with police

Scores of police officers had searched for former Visalia resident Mason James Lira, 26, since early Wednesday when authorities said he opened fire on the Paso Robles police station on California’s Central Coast and then shot a San Luis Obispo County sheriff’s deputy in the face. The deputy is in serious condition.

An Arroyo Grande police officer helping with the search was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with Lira at about 3 p.m. Thursday, according to a post on the city of Arroyo Grande website that said the injury wasn’t life-threatening.

Later, after a second exchange of gunfire, the Paso Robles Police Department tweeted “Suspect down. Several officers wounded.” 

Paso Robles police later said Lira was killed.
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As police searched for Lira, his father said his son had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, Asperger’s syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Jose Lira said his son often thinks he is a special agent or a solider and may believe he is under attack or in a war zone.

Although authorities have described the attack on the Paso Robles police station as an ambush, his father thinks it might have been a suicide attempt.

“He lives in a fantasy world,” Jose Lira, of Visalia, said. “He doesn’t have a beef with the police.”

The schizophrenia aspect I could believe, given the guy's age and other conditions. But the ambush attack, IMO, is more consistent with his paranoid fantasies - possibly triggered by current anti-police @#$% - than an actual suicide attempt.