Gunman who shot 2 police officers found dead in N. California

A suspect in the shooting and wounding two police officers a day earlier was found dead Thursday morning inside a home in Northern California.

Police spokeswomen Geneva Bosques of Fremont, a city more than 60 kilometers south of San Francisco, said the suspect's body was in a closet of the home where he had been holding out since Wednesday afternoon.

The suspect was identified as Gerald Villabrille, 44, of San Jose, California.

During the standoff, officers with the sheriff's office of Alameda County, where Fremont was located, tossed tear gas canisters into the residence in an effort to drive the suspect out and sparked a fire that was extinguished at about 7:30 a.m.

After Villabrille was surrounded by police at about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, he refused to give up, said Sergeant Ray Kelly of the sheriff's Office.

The home belongs to a owner unrelated to the suspect. It was not clear whether Villabrille died because of the fire or possible injuries from a shootout with police on Wednesday, Bosques said, adding that a coroner will perform an autopsy to determine the cause.

The incident began during a traffic stop at about 1:30 p.m. a day earlier, where the suspect backed his pickup truck into an officer and exchanged gunfire with the latter and hit him with one shot. Some 10 minutes later, in a neighborhood several blocks away, he engaged with a group of officers and shot a detective twice.

The injured officers with Fremont Police Department were sent to a hospital. Bosques told reporters that their conditions remained the same as of Thursday morning: the first officer, with over a year of experience with the department, was out of surgery and in critical condition; the second, with about 10 years of experience, was in stable condition.

At the height of the ordeal, hundreds of law enforcement officers from multiple agencies and nearby cities in San Francisco Bay Area joined the search for suspect with helicopters, drones and dogs to focus on a area of about 10 acres, or nearly 40,500 square meters. As roads were blocked, residents were told to stay home and work with officers going door-to-door. Endit