Man who gunned down parents in Rancho Cordova killed after standoff with Sacramento deputies

A son who killed his parents early Thursday at their Rancho Cordova home was shot and killed by Sacramento County deputies after his mom called 911, sparking a three-hour standoff.

The incident began after a woman screamed to dispatchers that she had been shot about 1:10 a.m. in the 3300 block of Hartselle Way, according to archived radio dispatches reviewed by The Sacramento Bee.

Investigators arrived on scene and began negotiations with the suspect, who told investigators he had shot two people, according to the audio dispatches. One woman lay outside the home with gunshot wounds while another man was inside the home, deputies told dispatchers.

Deputies with armored vehicles surrounded the home — at the corner of Hartselle Way and Nut Plains Drive in the Sunrise Countryside neighborhood — as they tried to coax the man in his mid-30s into surrendering.

Sheriff’s deputies asked surrounding homes to shelter in place as they tried to establish communications with the man and breached the backyards to observe the home.

Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, said two SWAT members fired on the man when he went into the backyard of the corner-lot home’s backyard armed with a rifle.

The names of the victims — identified by public records as a 72-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman — were expected to be released by the Coroner’s Office, along with the name of their son.

The Sheriff’s Office homicide detectives will conduct an investigation to determine if the deputies who shot and killed the gunman complied with department policy. The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office will also investigate the incident, which is standard practice.