Mason James Lira, deputy ‘ambush’ suspect, shot dead by police; officers wounded

The suspect in the ambush attack on a police precinct in Paso Robles, California, was fatally shot in a gunfight Thursday.

Tony Cipolla, a San Luis Obispo County sheriff’s spokesman, confirmed Mason James Lira’s death at the end of a massive manhunt Thursday evening, though he provided few details.

The Paso Robles Police Department had earlier tweeted “Suspect down. Several officers wounded.” Officials later said three officers were wounded, though only one was specified as having been shot. All are expected to survive.

Authorities accuse Mr. Lira, 26, of firing on the Paso Robles Police Department building before dawn Wednesday. They later found a homeless man dead from a close-range gunshot.

The first attack came just five days after another ambush attack on law enforcement officers in Santa Cruz County that killed one officer and wounded another.

Anti-cop rhetoric and attacks on officers have been mainstreamed in the past couple of weeks since activists began convulsing the nation over the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd.

But there was nothing directly linking the two California ambushes and Mr. Lira’s father told reporters that this isn’t such a case.

Jose Lira said his son has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, Asperger’s syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder that he refuses to medicate. He said Mason James Lira often has delusions of being a soldier or special agent in a war zone.

“He lives in a fantasy world,” Jose Lira told The Associated Press. “He doesn’t have a beef with the police.”