NEWMAN, Calif. — The man suspected to have shot and killed a police officer during a traffic stop in Newman, California, was in the country illegally, the Stanislaus County sheriff said Thursday.
The 33-year-old police officer, Ronil Singh, pulled over the suspect just before 1 a.m. Wednesday and a few moments later called out “shot fired” over the radio.
“Multiple agencies responded to assist, and Singh was found at the scene with gunshot wounds,” the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department, which is leading the investigation, said in a news release.
Singh was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
The suspect — who surveillance images show is a heavyset man with dark, closely cropped hair — took off in a silver or gray extended-cab Dodge Ram 1500 pickup, police said. In photos provided by police, he is wearing a zip-up hoodie with an Ecko logo on the sleeve and a thick silver chain around his neck.
The California Highway Patrol described him as Hispanic.
Sheriff Adam Christianson would not name the suspect.
Singh, a Fiji native, was with the Newman Police Department since July 2011.
“Our Newman police family is devastated by the loss of Ronil,” Police Chief Randy Richardson said, urging anyone with useful information to help investigators “get this cop killer off the streets.”
