Deputy died from friendly fire in California bar shooting

A sheriff’s deputy who died in a mass shooting at a California bar was shot five times by a gunman who massacred 11 others, but the officer was killed by friendly fire, authorities said Friday.

Sgt. Ron Helus was fatally shot in the heart by a California highway patrolman who had joined him in the chaotic gunbattle at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks on Nov. 7, Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub said.

“In my view it was unavoidable,” Ayub said. “They were ambushed almost immediately.”