Napa deputy fatally shoots gunman in parked car

An armed man in a parked car was shot to death late Sunday by a Napa County sheriff ’s deputy after the man fired at least one shot at the deputy, authorities said.

The deputy, who was not immediately identified, noticed the car just before 11 p.m. Sunday on the 1100 block of Henry Road in the southern part of the county. The deputy, who was on patrol alone, parked her vehicle and walked over to check on the driver, reported Henry Wofford, a spokesman for the Napa County Sheriff ’s Department.

“It was a dark part of the road, and the deputy was just making sure everything was OK,” Wofford said. Things went bad almost immediately.

The driver “fired the first shot, from his car, at the deputy, and the deputy returned fire” he said. “It was all over very quickly.”

At 11:05 p.m., six minutes after first contacting the driver at 10:59 p.m., the deputy radioed that shots had been fired, Wofford said. Investigators who responded found the male driver dead at the scene.

His name was withheld until his next of kin could be notified. The deputy was not injured.

Wofford said the incident will be examined by the Napa County Major Crimes Task Force, a panel that includes the Sheriff ’s Department, the Napa Police Department and the office of the Napa County district attorney.

The deputy’s body camera was turned on, and the footage “shows what transpired prior, during and after the incident,” Wofford said.

The deputy was placed on administrative leave, standard procedure for any shooting involving a deputy, Wofford said.

A gun was found with the driver who was killed, but officials declined to say what type of weapon was recovered or how many shots were fired.