Evidence Recovered At Scene Of EBRPD Shootout; One 'Active' Local Grow Site

Officers returning to the scene of Monday's shootout between a patrolling East Bay Regional Park District police officer and at least one armed subject found shell casings from a "high powered assault rifle" – and evidence of a marijuana grow in the area.

Capt. Mark Ruppenthal said the attack has been classified as the attempted murder of a police officer and the investigation remains "active and open." Searches of the San Leandro Watershed south of Moraga are ongoing and will continue both in the air and on the ground, as needed, Ruppenthal said.

"This was a very serious incident and we do not take these things lightly," he said Thursday.

In a prepared release Ruppenthal reported that an EBRPD team returned to the crime scene – a largely innaccessible area miles south of Moraga on Wednesday, July 27, and "recovered evidence of the firefight between the suspects and the officer including expended firearms ammunition casings from a high powered assault rifle."

That evidence was recovered and will be sent to a crime lab for analysis.

Other areas of the watershed will continue to be searched by EBRPD and Alameda County SWAT Teams on an ongoing basis, Ruppenthal said. The area where the shootout occurred is several miles south of Moraga and actually within Alameda County lines. Ground and aerial searches have been hampered due to changing weather conditions and the challenging terrain.

Ruppenthal said overflights of the area have determined that there is "at least one" active marijuana cultivation site in the vicinity of Monday's shootout. He added that it is not known if the incident was directly related to marijuana cultivation or other, illicit activity in the area.

"I never said anything about the Mexican Mafia in connection with this case," he said. "We can't say if any group is involved or if the officer just came upon something he shouldn't have... we just don't know."

Ruppenthal reiterated that the park district is handling the investigation into the shooting, with support from other agencies, and he defended the decision to use Rancho Laguna Park in Moraga as a staging area for helicopters and a park district armored vehicle.

"It was the most logical place to stage, flat, perfect for the helicopter," he said, adding that police were hampered in their job to clear the site by throngs of onlookers who gathered to watch.

Some people have expressed concern that Monday's incident was somehow directly related to Rancho Laguna, which was not the case, Ruppenthal said.

This week's the second grow the parks police found this month. Authorities recovered thousands of pot plants on July 13 when a helicopter patrol found a grow operation in Las Trampas.