Suspect in shooting of state deputy has violent record
SACRAMENTO— The suspect in a hotel shootout that left a California police officer dead and two wounded while they investigated a stolen vehicle ring has a violent criminal history, court records show. He did prison time for assault with a semi-automatic weapon and vehicle theft.
Thomas Daniel Littlecloud, 32, from the San Francisco Bay Area, was in critical condition Thursday at a hospital and suffering from life threatening injuries after he got into a gunfight with other officers Wednesday after fleeing the hotel in a car, said Sacramento County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tony Turnbull.
Littlecloud fatally shot Deputy Robert French, 52, on Wednesday with an assault rifle as Littlecloud made his getaway from the hotel after shooting through the door at the officers who knocked on the door of Littlefield’s hotel room, Turnbull said. Police went there because they believed a stolen vehicle ring was being run from the room.
Littlecloud, of Castro Valley, California, has a criminal history dating back to 2004, including a six-year sentence for assault with a semi-automatic weapon and prison time of more than a year for vehicle theft, court records said.
He was also sentenced in 2013 to three years for evading a police officer and possessing and illegal gun and twice violated parole in 2015.
French, the deputy, died on the way to the hospital. Two California Highway Patrol officers who were shot and wounded were expected to survive.
They were identified Thursday as John Wilson and David Woodward by California state Sen. Jim Nielsen, a Republican who said he was given the information by the highway patrol.
Six other sheriff’s deputies involved in the shooting will be placed on paid administrative leave while an investigation is conducted, which Turnbull described as routine when officer-involved shootings happen. The Sacramento County District Attorney’s office will also conduct an independent review, he said.
Priscilla Prendez, 23, of Oakland, California, faces charges of vehicle theft and felony evasion in connection with Wednesday’s events, which began as part of a routine stolen vehicle investigation. The police believed Prendez was connected to a stolen vehicle ring inside the hotel, Turnbull said.
The hotel’s guests were trapped Wednesday in their rooms for most of the day as police methodically cleared the area and confirmed no other gunmen stayed behind in the hotel room.
In another shooting of California police Wednesday night, two officers in Bakersfield were hospitalized in stable condition they responded to a call about a disturbance at a home and ended up in a shootout in which the suspect was killed.
The events leading to Sacramento shooting started with a routine investigation by a car-theft task force involving officers from multiple agencies. Investigators suspected a car-theft ring was being run out of a Ramada Inn in an unincorporated neighborhood of Sacramento.
Two women who got into a stolen vehicle were chased for 20 miles (32 kilometers) before being apprehended in Elk Grove, south of Sacramento. Arresting officers learned Prendez of Oakland, California, was on probation and had booked a room in the Ramada Inn.
No details have been disclosed about her relationship to Littlecloud, and the police have not named the second woman in her car.
When officers knocked on the hotel room door, a gunman opened fire through the door and walls, striking two California Highway Patrol officers before turning to the balcony and shooting French, who was outside monitoring the back door, and fleeing.
Littlecloud was found with a rifle and high-capacity magazine, which are illegal to purchase in California, Turnbull said. The car he attempted to flee in was also stolen, Turnbull said.
Jeff Marshall, who lives near the hotel, said he heard gunshots and tires squealing and saw a gray Dodge speed by his home, going the wrong way down a busy street as vehicles and pedestrians scrambled to get out of the way.
“It was like the wild West,” Marshall said.
French was a 21-year veteran of the sheriff’s office.
Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones described French him as a well-known, wellrespected deputy.