Standoff, Officer-Involved Shooting Ends in Death

FAIR OAKS – A Fair Oaks neighborhood Thursday was the scene of an incident in which a man brandished a gun at deputies and was fatally shot.  It began around noon when members of the Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau approached a residence in the 4800 block of Vin Mar Street.  They were serving a warrant on the resident for making terrorist threats.

Michael Craig Berger

When the suspect refused to come out of the home, deputies entered to serve the warrant. The suspect, later identifed as 47-year-old Michael Craig Berger, pointed a handgun at the approaching deputies, who backed out of the residence and called for additional officers.

Law enforcement established a perimeter around the home and contacted Berger by telephone.  He stated that he would not submit to arrest and made threats to kill any deputies who attempted to enter.  Numerous efforts to peacefully surrender were rebuffed by Berger.

Around 4:00 p.m. the suspect came out of the residence brandishing a long-barreled firearm toward the deputies.  In response to this threat deputies fired a single shot at Berger, who retreated into his home.

After continuous attempts to re-establish contact via phone and loudspeaker, a robot device was deployed to enter the residence.  Visual contact seemed to indicate that the suspect was unresponsive, whereupon deputies entered the home.  Deputies discovered that the suspect suffered a single gunshot wound to his upper body and was pronounced dead.

The deputy involved in the shooting was placed on paid administrative leave  according to standard procedure until the investigation of this incident is completed.

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