‘Brazen’ intruder with rifle shot at police station, CA cops say. ‘It’s got to stop’

Update: The 35-year-old man shot after following a Rialto, California, officer into a secure parking lot at a police station was carrying a paintball gun resembling an AR-15 rifle, police told KGO. He remains hospitalized in stable condition.

The original story continues below:

A Rialto officer shot an intruder armed with a rifle who followed his patrol vehicle into a secure police station parking lot, California authorities reported.

The “brazen armed assault” took place at 4:27 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5, Police Chief Mark Kling said in a video press briefing posted on Twitter.

Security video posted with the briefing shows the patrol vehicle entering the fenced parking lot, followed by a black Dodge Charger.

The officer stopped to talk to a police employee who exited the station, Kling said.

Security video shows the intruder dashing toward the patrol vehicle carrying an “AR-15 type weapon,” Kling said.

The officer noticed the man, who began to run away but then turned back and pointed the rifle at the officer as he got out of his patrol vehicle, Kling said.

Security video shows the intruder sprawl on the pavement as the officer shoots him multiple times.

Other officers emerged from the station and provided medical aid to the intruder, Kling said.

The intruder was hospitalized in stable condition, KTLA reported. Police do not yet know why he targeted the police officer.

“Law enforcement officers, both county deputies and also municipal police, not only throughout the state but the country, are being faced with the challenges that we never, ever thought that we would ever have to be faced with, and it’s got to stop,” he told KABC.

Rialto is a city of 104,000 people about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

This story was originally published December 6, 2022 at 11:31 AM with the headline "‘Brazen’ intruder with rifle shot at police station, CA cops say. ‘It’s got to stop’."