Alleged killer of deputy was on feds’ wanted list

Castro Valley man skipped out on bail, twice a no-show in court

The Castro Valley man accused of killing a Sacramento County sheriff ’s deputy and wounding two California Highway Patrol officers was wanted by federal authorities after he failed to show up to court twice this summer, court records show.

Authorities on Thursday named Thomas Daniel Little Cloud, 32, of Castro Valley as the gunman they say opened fire on police during a stolen vehicle investigation Wednesday as he tried to flee a Sacramento hotel room. One Sacramento County sheriff ’s deputy was killed

and two California Highway Patrol officers were injured.

Little Cloud was shot during an ensuing pursuit and remained in a hospital Thursday in critical condition.

Records show that he had skipped out on bail and that a federal judge had issued a warrant for his arrest last month when he didn’t appear in a San Francisco federal courthouse as scheduled. Prosecutors told the judge that his whereabouts were unknown.

The alleged gunman has an extensive criminal history in the Bay Area, including several instances of assault on officers and first responders.

In Alameda County alone, his criminal history extends back at least 14 years, when — at age 18 — he was charged with drug possession, robbery, grand theft and assault with a stun gun, records show.

In 2004, during another stolen vehicle case, he was arrested in Alameda County and charged with battery on emergency personnel, resisting an officer and drug possession. The following year, he was arrested again in the county and charged with two counts of assault on a peace officer or firefighter, in addition to six counts of assault with or possession of firearms.

Last June, federal prosecutors indicted Little Cloud on charges of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, using a counterfeit credit card and identity theft, court records show.

The incident Wednesday began about 9:30 a.m., when CHP officers and sheriff ’s deputies — working as part of an auto-theft task force — followed a stolen vehicle they saw leave the parking lot of the Ramada Inn on Auburn Boulevard in Sacramento, officials said. The investigators had gotten information that a group behind a string of recent car thefts was working out of the hotel.

The driver led the police on a chase that ended in Elk Grove. One of the two women inside, 23-year-old Priscilla Prendez of Oakland, was arrested on suspicion of vehicle theft and evading police, officials said. She was booked at the Sacramento County jail and is being held on $90,000 bail. Her companion was questioned and released.

The detectives went back to the hotel after learning that Prendez, who was on probation, had booked a room there, authorities said. They knocked on the room and announced themselves as police, when shots were fired through the front door and walls at them, striking the two CHP officers. Little Cloud tried to exit through the back balcony of the room, where sheriff ’s deputies were positioned, officials said. Using a high-powered assault rifle, he engaged them in gunfire and struck Deputy Robert French, a 21-year veteran of the Sheriff ’s Department, police said.

French died on his way to a hospital. The CHP officers were in stable condition Thursday.

The gunman ran from the balcony into a nearby car — also stolen — and drove south on Fulton Avenue, then went east on El Camino Avenue, before crashing just west of Watt Avenue, officials said.

Another shootout unfolded at the scene of the crash, where Little Cloud was shot and taken into custody.

French, the deputy who was killed, is survived by three adult children, several grandchildren, a sister and his girlfriend.

Prendez is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Sacramento Superior Court.

The sheriff ’s office and Sacramento County district attorney’s office are conducting parallel investigations into the incident, and six deputies involved will be placed on paid leave, in keeping with standard protocol after an officerinvolved shooting, officials said. Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@ sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov