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Sep 7, 2008 9:27 pm US/Pacific
Details Emerge In Martinez Officer's Death
MARTINEZ (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
Authorities on Sunday identified a gunman slain in a shootout that also left a police sergeant and a woman dead as a 49-year-old Martinez man involved in a domestic dispute.
Contra Costa County sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee said Felix Sandoval Jr. was fatally shot Saturday at a Martinez apartment complex after he stormed the adjacent Elegant Hair Design at 3596 Pacheco Blvd. seeking his estranged wife.
Martinez police Sgt. Paul Starzyk was also killed in the gunbattle along with a woman identified as 44-year-old Catalina Torres, a cousin of Sandoval's wife.
Witnesses said Sandoval broke the hair salon's front window with his gun and demanded to see the shop's owner before fleeing to the four-unit apartment complex located behind the beauty salon.
When officers arrived about 11:30 a.m., Lee said Sandoval confronted them with the gun. Inside an apartment a few moments later, there was an altercation and Starzyk, Torres and Sandoval were shot.
Starzyk, a 12-year department veteran, was flown to a hospital, where he died.
"The Martinez Police Department is a small Police Department. It is a place where everyone knows each other. It is a tough time for them," Lee said.
A joint investigation was ongoing and the sheriff's office and the Martinez Police Department continued to collect evidence and get a better idea of the chain of events, Lee said.
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