A manhunt across California for the suspect accused of shooting a police officer to death during a traffic stop has stretched into a second day Thursday.
Authorities are looking for a man seen in surveillance photos at a convenience store shortly before the slaying Wednesday of 33-year-old Cpl. Ronil Singh of the small-town Newman Police Department.
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Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson said detectives identified the suspect but didn’t release his name. He said authorities believe he’s still in the area and is armed and dangerous.
“The sheriff’s office will spare no expense in hunting down this criminal,” Christianson said at a news conference.
Christianson also said the suspect is in the U.S. illegally and described him as a criminal who “doesn’t belong here.”
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Singh was shot a few minutes after radioing that he was pulling over a gray pickup truck that had no license plate in Newman, a town of about 10,000 people some 160 kilometres southeast of San Francisco. Singh died at a hospital.
A ground and air search began for the heavyset man pictured at the store with short, dark hair and wearing a silver chain, jeans, dark T-shirt and a dark jacket with white Ecko brand patches on the shoulders.
“We have sent out information to law enforcement up and down the state, as well as outside California,” Stanislaus County sheriff’s Sgt. Tom Letras said.
The agency is leading the investigation and held the news conference with Newman police Thursday.
The California Highway Patrol sent an alert to smartphones Wednesday asking drivers to keep an eye out for the pickup truck.
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A truck believed to have been the one stopped by Singh was later found in a garage in a mobile home park about 4 miles (6 kilometers) from the shooting, where law enforcement officers were serving a search warrant, The Modesto Bee reported. Investigators were examining the vehicle, police said.
Singh was a native of Fiji and father of an infant son. He joined the Newman police force in 2011. Earlier in his career, Ronil Singh worked as a deputy with the Merced County Sheriff’s Department.
“He was living the American dream,” said Stanislaus County sheriff’s Deputy Royjinder Singh, who is not related to the slain officer but knew him. “He loved camping, loved hunting, loved fishing, loved his family.”
On his Facebook page, Ronil Singh posted pictures on Christmas Eve from a deep-sea fishing trip that produced a big haul of crabs and fish. His profile picture shows him smiling as he stands at a patrol car with a dog — the same photograph of the officer released by the Sheriff’s Department.
Ronil Singh is survived by his wife, Anamika, and a 5-month-old son, authorities said.
Outgoing California Gov. Jerry Brown offered condolences to Singh’s family and said flags at the Capitol would fly at half-staff in his honor.
“Our hearts are with the entire community of Newman and law enforcement officers across the state who risk their lives every day to protect and serve the people of California,” Brown said.
–With files from Olga R. Rodriguez. Associated Press writer Amanda Lee Myers in Los Angeles contributed to this story.
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