Dec 2, 2008 9:28 pm US/Pacific
DA Awaits Forensic Tests In San Mateo Shootout
SAN MATEO (BCN) ―
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22-year-old Raymond Gee of Oakland has been identified as the gunman in a deadly home invasion robbery in San Mateo November 25th.
San Mateo Police Department
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An officer reaches for a child in the window of the home during Tuesday's shootout.
CBS
The San Mateo County District Attorney's Office will continue its investigation into an apparent murder-suicide at a San Mateo home Nov. 25 until forensic results show the victim and suspect who died that day were not fatally shot by police, a deputy district attorney said Tuesday.
The district attorney's office investigates any officer-involved shooting, Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.
A preliminary investigation indicates 22-year-old Raymond Gee fatally shot 24-year-old Loan Kim Nguyen Truong before turning the gun on himself during a standoff from which gunfire erupted between officers and Gee as he held Truong and her two children captive.
But forensic results are pending and, until a report confirms that officers were not responsible for either death, the district attorney's office will continue to investigate the incident, Wagstaffe said.
Wagstaffe said he has never heard of an instance in San Mateo County where it remained unsure for so long whether police were responsible for a fatal shooting.
"We've never had this before in San Mateo County—shots fired by law enforcement and you don't know who killed the person," Wagstaffe said. "Every other one we'd know."
While the initial investigation took place right after the shooting, "nobody knew whether he shot himself or was shot by law enforcement. Until that is shown and proved, the district attorney's office is the primary agency," Wagstaffe said.
The violence broke out in what neighbors described as a normally quiet neighborhood around 9:30 a.m. Nov. 25.
Gee, who had allegedly pursued Truong on the Internet for weeks prior, secretly entered Truong's house at 29 Hobart Ave. as her husband was leaving for work, police said.
Gee then physically assault Truong and threatened to kill her, police said.
Truong apparently sent her husband a text message saying she was being robbed at gunpoint, and her husband called 911, police said.
Officers responded to the house and attempted to enter, but Gee shot at them with a handgun, narrowly missing the officers, according to police.
A SWAT team was then called in and hostage negotiators attempted to contact Gee, but he refused to negotiate, police said.
Truong barricaded herself and her 1- and 3-year-old children inside a bedroom and through her own contact with officers, said she wanted to lower her children out the window, police said.
As she was handing her children to the officers, Gee fired several rounds at Truong from a bathroom through an adjoining wall, police said.
SWAT team members returned fire as her children were rushed to safety, police said.
Based on the trajectory of rounds and the position of both Gee and Truong, police believe Gee's gunfire struck Truong, police said.
Gee's body was found in a rear bedroom with a single gunshot to the head, and the county coroner has confirmed it appears Gee took his own life as the SWAT team entered the house, police said.
San Mateo Deputy Police Chief Mike Callagy said Tuesday morning the Police Department plans to hold a news conference later this week to announce further details of the investigation.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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