Remember the active shooter event back in June of 2020?
The gunman shot at the Paso Robles police department, but officers there elected to remain inside their fortress-like building.
San Luis Obispo county sheriff’s deputy Nicholas Dreyfus responded to reports of an active shooter, and Mason Lira shot him in the face. His partner, deputy Cliff Pacas, protected the wounded deputy while Mason Lira wandered around Paso Robles. Lira also shot and killed Paso Robles resident James Watson. Then he spent the next 36 hours repeatedly firing his gun at law enforcement. He was finally killed in a shootout near the riverbed south of Paso Robles.
Nicholas Dreyfus continues to recover from being shot in the face. Dreyfus and his family and Watson’s family are suing a San Luis Obispo attorney who left a gun in his office. That’s where Mason Lira stole the gun. The gun was unlocked and readily accessible in Robert Bettencourt’s office.
A judge rules the city of Paso Robles cannot be sued because its officers failed to engage the active shooter. The judge calls that motion to sue the city, “arguably moot.”
The incident occurred when city manager Ty Lewis was Paso Robles police chief.
