Mindbender66's video: Sheriff s deputy killed in shootout near Fresno

Reporting from Minkler, Calif., and Ventura — A Fresno County sheriff's deputy was fatally shot and two other officers were wounded Thursday in an all-day confrontation with a barricaded arson suspect in the tiny unincorporated community of Minkler, 20 miles east of Fresno. "This morning, I had to deliver the message that no law enforcement leader wants to deliver, and that was to the wife of a deputy sheriff, that her husband had been killed in the line of duty," Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said at a news conference. Advertisement The names of the officers were not immediately released, nor was that of the alleged shooter. The Fresno Bee identified the suspect as Ricky Liles, 51, of Minkler. Reedley City Manager Rocky Rogers told the Associated Press that one of the wounded officers was Javier Bejar, of the Reedley Police Department. Rogers said that he was on life support and not expected to recover. Using a remote-control camera, officers found the man dead in his mobile home across from Minkler's general store about 5 p.m. About an hour before, an unidentified woman and a bloody dog emerged from the home. The standoff started about 9:40 a.m., when two deputies and an agent from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection tried to serve a search warrant on the man. They were greeted with gunfire, authorities said. One of the deputies, a homicide detective, later died at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno. Another was listed in serious condition. In a later barrage of bullets, the officer from the Reedley department was struck. He and some of his colleagues had rushed to the scene from target practice at a nearby shooting range after a call went out about the downed deputies, said Fresno County Supervisor Judy Case. He was listed in critical condition Thursday evening. About 200 officers from a number of San Joaquin Valley police departments cordoned off a broad area around the shooting scene. Witnesses reported hearing bursts of gunfire emanating from the mobile home. About 15 to 20 officers returned fire, expending 200 to 300 rounds, authorities said. By 5 p.m., police were hauling in high-intensity lights, preparing to investigate throughout the night. It was a grim day for the hamlet on the road to Kings Canyon National Park. The town -- with a population of 30, according to a highway sign -- last made headlines when its owner, the proprietor of the Minkler Cash Store, futilely listed it for sale on EBay in 2004.