THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — The body of a veteran sheriff’s sergeant fatally shot while responding to a Southern California mass shooting is being taken in a procession from a hospital to a coroner’s office.
A law enforcement motorcade is providing an escort Thursday as the body of Ventura County sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus is driven about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from a hospital in Thousand Oaks to a coroner’s facility in the city of Ventura.
Firefighters are honoring Helus with a giant U.S. flag raised by two ladder trucks over the route. People are lining streets as the hearse passes.
Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean says Helus was shot several times in an exchange of gunfire with a man who attacked the Borderline Bar and Grill late Wednesday during a country music dance night popular with college students.
Eleven other people were killed and the gunman is believed to have taken his own life.