Santa Cruz Police detectives talked with Jeremy Goulet through a closed door for about 10 minutes before he disappeared from the door, came out of the house through another door and ambushed them with his .45-caliber Sig Sauer handgun, according to details released this afternoon.
Santa Cruz Police Detectives Sgt. Loran "Butch" Baker and Elizabeth Butler were on scene for about 20 minutes, at first looking for his home and talking with bystanders, according to Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak at a press conference Thursday afternoon.
That's an update from information presented earlier today, which portrayed police as talking with Goulet, 35, for more than 20 minutes before he gunned them down.
Other updated details include:
- A bystander was hit with a stray bullet was on Standford Avenue. She was traumatized by shooting, but not injured, according to sheriff's reports.
- Goulet took Baker and Butler's guns before stealing Baker's car, putting on the body armor in the car, and returning wearing the body armor and carrying the three guns.
- Goulet came toward law enforcement shooting two guns before he was shot and killed.
The detectives stopped by Goulet's home on Branciforte Avenue just after 3 p.m., Wowak said. They interviewed him for more than 20 minutes before he suddenly surprised them with a gun and shot them.
"Neither officer was wearing body armor, however body armor would not have helped," Wowak said.
Goulet's .45-caliber gun was registered to him, Wowak said. A stray bullet also struck a woman on the street in the leg.
The officers were investigating Goulet for a misdemeanor sexual assault case. He had been fired from his job at the Kind Grind coffee shop in the harbor days before the attack after an employee there filed a sexual complaint against him. It wasn't the first time he'd been investigated for sex crimes.
"Goulet had had multiple sex related arrests including a rape arrest in the state of Hawaii," Wowak said.
The sheriff's department is also investigating Goulet on another case of inappropriately touching a juvenile.
When the shooting happened, "the officers did not have the opportunity to call on the radio. They barely had the time to turn and run," Wowak said.
After Goulet stole Baker's car, a fire truck blocked his path on Doyle Street, which steered Goulet into an alleyway which led back to his house, Wowak said. That's where he encountered a team of six deputies and Santa Cruz Police officers.
Three Santa Cruz Police officers and one Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputy shot Goulet. All four are on paid administrative leave per department and office policies, Wowak said.
Goulet had his passport and a plane ticket to fly to New Mexico this week on him when he died, Wowak said. The Sheriff said investigators were looking into what his plans were.
Information about memorial services for the fallen officers should be released by Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel this afternoon.
Santa Cruz Police Department officers are off work until Friday. California Highway Patrol and Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputies continue to patrol the city.
Former police spokesman and county supervisor Zach Friend said the department is still in the process of healing.
"Its going to take a long time," he said.
