BPD: Man dies of self-inflicted gunshot after shooting woman in Westchester

A man suspected of shooting a woman in a Westchester residence late Friday night fled through neighboring yards before killing himself, according to Bakersfield Police.

Officers went to the 3100 block of Audubon Drive at about 11:30 p.m., responding to a report of gunshots. They found the woman suffering from a gunshot wound to her hand, and she said she had been shot at a residence in the 2500 block of Elm Street, according to a BPD news release.

Police went there to find the suspect, but he’d fled with a handgun. Officers reported hearing a gunshot, and found the man with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a yard in the 2600 block of Elm Street, police said. He died at the scene.

The woman’s relationship to the man, if any, was not disclosed by police. She was taken to a hospital; police said she is expected to recover.

The man’s identity has not been released by the Kern County coroner’s office.

The BPD noted that none of its officers fired guns. Police ask that anyone with information call them at 661-327-7111.

Officers arrested a suspect with a multimillion-dollar arrest warrant

on suspicion of forcible sexual assault of three young children Friday night after an hours-long standoff on 24th Street, according to the Bakersfield Police Department.

Police said Anthony Rocha, 41, of Bakersfield, was standing on a guardrail in the 3000 block of 24th Street at the Kern River overcrossing at about 5:30 p.m.

Rocha brandished a hypodermic syringe at the officers, threatened to assault them and claimed to have a firearm in his pocket, the BPD said in a news release.

A police crisis negotiator talked with Rocha for about two and a half hours before he surrendered, police said. No firearm was found.

The BPD wrote that Rocha was booked into Kern County jail on suspicion of brandishing a weapon, resisting arrest, possession of narcotics paraphernalia, warrants for narcotics and weapons violations and the sexual assault warrant stemming from an investigation by the Kern County Sheriff’s Office. He was not listed as being in custody Saturday evening.

The incident caused the closure of 24th Street.

Police ask that anyone with information call them at 661-327-7111.