Police: Ambushed officer had no chance of survival

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A rookie Sacramento police officer who died during a domestic violence call was ambushed by a gunman and had no chance of surviving after she was shot, police said.

The disclosure came late Friday amid criticism that it took police 45 minutes to get to 26-year-old rookie Officer Tara O’Sullivan during the armed standoff.

O’Sullivan was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

She was hit several times, and one of the wounds was “nonsurvivable,” Sgt. Vance Chandler said at a news conference at which the department released police body camera video of the Wednesday night attack.

Police Chief Daniel Hahn said the gunman had stashed two assault rifles, a shotgun and a handgun in different rooms and opened fire as officers knocked on the door.

“The officers were essentially ambushed,” Hahn said.

He said that patrol car doors and protective vests couldn’t stop the high-powered rifle rounds and that if officers had tried to rescue their fallen colleague before an armored vehicle arrived, “we would have (had) additional officers murdered.”

Earlier in the day, suspect Adel Sambrano Ramos, 45, was charged with murder, attempted murder and possessing two illegal assault rifles.

Police said the gunman strategically shot at officers for hours, using all the weapons kept in different rooms. He surrendered after an eight-hour standoff.

Nine days before the officer’s killing, a judge issued a warrant for the arrest of Ramos for failing to appear on a charge of battering a young woman.

Police earlier found two guns in a neighboring home associated with Ramos and learned about the warrant in the battery case. Five officers went to find him before the ambush occurred, police said.