DEPUTY DIED FROM FRIENDLY FIRE IN CALIF. BAR GUN BATTLE

Thousand Oaks, Calif. — 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 gun battle at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks on Nov. 7, Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub said. Investigators did not offer any more insight into what drove Ian David Long, 28, to storm the country-western bar during a weekly event for college students. Helus and the CHP officer returned fire, but Long was not struck by any of their rounds and took his own life after the firefight.