Police have released a portion of the body camera video recorded when a man opened fire on officers at a north Sacramento home and allegedly murdered 26-year-old Officer Tara O'Sullivan on Wednesday evening. Sacramento Police Department Chief Daniel Hahn said in a Friday news conference that the video clearly shows that 45-year-old Adel Sambrano Ramos "essentially ambushed" the officers responding to a domestic incident call at the home. Hahn also said Ramos clearly intended to kill more officers, as he continued firing at them for several hours during a standoff that eventually ended with his surrender around 2:00 a.m. on Thursday morning.
Author's Note: The body camera footage included with this article may not be suitable for all viewers. Discretion is advised.
O'Sullivan "was struck by multiple rounds," according to Sgt. Vance Chandler, spokesman for the department. "They were all rifle rounds, and one of those wounds we know was non-survivable."
There have been questions about why Officer O'Sullivan was not recovered from the backyard of the home with the help of an armored vehicle for over 40 minutes after the shooting started. Chief Hahn said Ramos had multiple handguns, rifles, and ammunition in multiple buildings on the property. He noted that officers thought they he was firing at them with a high-powered rifle, and that they were not equipped to withstand that kind of assault.
"I truly believe that if officers utilized the equipment they had at the time, prior to retrieving the armored vehicle, we would have additional officers murdered on that day."
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The armored vehicle arrived on the scene about 15 minutes after after officers requested it be sent, then they had to determine how they were going to get past a pole, a chain link fence, and a wood fence to where O'Sullivan was located, according to police.
Once the vehicle made it to O'Sullivan, an officer jumped out and started firing in Ramos' direction to provide cover for other officers who were able to pull her inside the vehicle, Chandler said. While they backed out of the scene, the armored car "became disabled," he added. Still, officers managed to carry O'Sullivan to a patrol car and get her to the hospital. That is where she was later pronounced dead.
View Friday's news conference below.