Petaluma and Santa Rosa police officers Thursday morning began collecting evidence at a Kenwood property where a wanted man died after a lengthy standoff with a SWAT team whose members deployed tear gas and shot at him.
Thursday morning, the body of the suspect remained, covered up and outside the Hoff Road trailer where he'd been holed up for about 19 hours Tuesday into Wednesday.
Sheriff's officials say it isn't clear whether the man died after shooting himself or whether shots fired by the SWAT team killed him.
Law enforcement officials said detectives Thursday also were interviewing officers and SWAT team members who were at the property during the night when the man died.
The man, who officials haven't identified, was being sought by Napa County law enforcement on several felony charges including weapons, narcotics and child endangerment.
Also under investigation Thursday were comments the man made during talks with law enforcement negotiators, who were trying to get him to give up peacefully.
The man admitted to a murder as well as several other crimes, said sheriff's Lt. Brett Sackett.
Further details of those alleged crimes weren't released.
In a press release issued early Thursday, sheriff's officials outlined further details about the standoff on Hoff Road.
Sackett said the man had become less communicative during the afternoon after he admitted to other crimes and then had talked of suicide or getting police to shoot him.
"The suspect threatened to kill himself on numerous occasions or create a situation where he would force law enforcement to kill him, in what is known as "suicide by cop," according to Sackett.
In an attempt to engage him, multiple rounds of a chemical agent were sent into the trailer, Sackett said.
After the first rounds of tear gas went in, the man fired shots out the trailer, hitting a nearby home, Sackett said.
Further rounds of tear gas then were shot into the trailer and the door opened and the man appeared. SWAT team members began firing.
Sackett Wednesday night said the man was believed to have been holding an assault rifle in his hand as he stood at the door. Thursday's press release did not include whether the man was armed as he stood at the door.
"Perceiving a threat and and fearing for their safety, SWAT team members engaged the suspect with their weapons. The suspect fell to the ground and after numerous attempts to communicate" the prone man was approached by SWAT team members and a medic, who determined he was dead, Sackett said.
Napa officers had tracked him to the trailer Tuesday, where he was with a woman, described as his girlfriend.
The couple had gone to the trailer on the rural lane off of Highway 12 Tuesday afternoon, after a friend apparently had arranged for them to stay with another man at the trailer.
That man escaped after officers arrived. He then told officers the man inside had a rifle, a handgun and body armor, Sackett said.
The couple were barricaded inside the trailer through the night. At about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday the man allowed the woman to leave.
She also hasn't been identified.
Following a Sonoma County protocol by law enforcement agencies, deaths of suspects during a law enforcement event are investigated by other agencies.
Petaluma detectives are the lead investigators in the this case, aided by Santa Rosa and Sonoma County District Attorney's investigators.
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