SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – The sheriff's deputy reached a house at the end of the narrow Northern California dirt road and decided getting help from more deputies would be a good idea.
The terrain was steep, the redwood forest thick. The deputy turned the patrol car around and headed back down the hill, just as a van passed by heading up.
It was a close call.The van's driver, officials say, was U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Steven Carrillo, who lay in wait for more law enforcement to arrive before ambushing them from the steep hillside above in a barrage of gunfire and explosives.