By Daniel Hunt

Source The Sacramento Bee

Newly released video shows an armed domestic violence suspect turn his car around on Interstate 80 and face pursuing Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies before five deputies opened fire, killing him inside the vehicle.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office released footage Friday of the July 5 pursuit and fatal shooting of 38-year-old William Mattias Kreuzer of Rancho Cordova near the Antelope truck scales outside Citrus Heights.

The release included five deputies’ body-worn camera recordings, five in-car camera videos, 13 recordings of 911 calls and radio traffic from the incident.

Deputies had been searching for Kreuzer after his former wife escaped a Rancho Cordova home that morning and reported he had beaten, strangled and pistol-whipped her during three days of violence, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The woman told deputies she finally escaped by pretending to be dead during another attack that morning.

“She remained completely still and played dead until he finally left the room,” Sgt. Ed Igoe, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said in a video briefing released with the footage. “The moment he was gone, she ran.”

Pursuit ends on Interstate 80

Deputies found Kreuzer driving the woman’s Volkswagen after one of the Sheriff’s Office’s Flock automated license plate readers detected the vehicle at Fair Oaks Boulevard and Kenneth Avenue in Carmichael, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Video showed deputies following the Volkswagen along Fair Oaks Boulevard and through Arden Arcade along Marconi Avenue near Town & Country Village before the pursuit eventually moved onto the Capital City Freeway.

Kreuzer did not stop for deputies and continued onto Interstate 80, authorities said.

The pursuit ended at the Antelope truck scales, where video showed Kreuzer slowing the Volkswagen, turning around and stopping while faced the wrong direction on the interstate toward the pursuing deputies.

Deputies stopped behind the Volkswagen, got out with their weapons drawn and repeatedly ordered Kreuzer to get out of the car.

“Get out of the vehicle,” deputies could be heard shouting.

Kreuzer remained inside.

The encounter lasted only moments before deputies saw a gun in Kreuzer’s hand and opened fire. Five deputies fired roughly 18 to 20 rounds, according to a review of the body-camera footage by The Sacramento Bee.

“As deputies attempted to order Kreuzer out of the vehicle, he pointed a firearm at the deputies, which resulted in an officer-involved shooting,” Igoe said in the briefing.

Kreuzer was killed inside the Volkswagen.

After the gunfire stopped, deputies continued issuing commands from behind their patrol vehicles. Deputies later fired a less-lethal beanbag round toward the Volkswagen before approaching it.

No deputies were injured.

Woman escaped after days of violence

The encounter began about an hour earlier, when sheriff’s dispatchers received reports around 10 a.m. of a battered and bloodied woman going door to door seeking help in the 2200 block of Zinfandel Drive in Rancho Cordova.

One resident let the woman inside while deputies responded. The woman told deputies Kreuzer, her former husband, had held her inside a home and subjected her to repeated violence for three days.

She said Kreuzer beat her, struck her with a pistol and strangled her until she lost consciousness, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Another attack began that Sunday morning, authorities said. The woman told deputies she realized her opportunity to escape was to convince Kreuzer that she was dead.

She lay still until Kreuzer left the room, then ran from the home and sought help from neighbors. The woman warned deputies that Kreuzer had a handgun and was “always armed,” according to Igoe.

When deputies went to the residence, Kreuzer and the woman’s vehicle were gone.

The Sheriff’s Office said deputies issued a be-on-the-lookout alert to surrounding law enforcement agencies. Authorities learned Kreuzer had previously been arrested on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm, domestic violence and leading law enforcement officers on a vehicle pursuit.

The shooting shut down eastbound I-80 for more than eight hours on the July 4 weekend while authorities investigated.

Because the shooting occurred on the interstate, the California Highway Patrol was investigating the encounter. The Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau and Professional Standards Division were conducting a parallel investigation, and the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office was expected to conduct an independent review.

The status of those investigations are believed to be ongoing.

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