The sheriff’s office identified the suspect as Mason James Lear (26) in a news Wednesday night. He is from the Monterey area and is considered armed and dangerous, the statement said.

As the search for him continued on Thursday, the sheriff of San Luis Obispo County Tweeted: “Update 6. 11.2020. At 14.34. The Sheriff’s Office confirms that shots were fired in Paso Robles and that the public is avoiding the Ramada area and Put Volpi Ysabel.”

It was also said that a message was sent at the shelter to residents living within a 2-mile radius. He then extended the area to the town of Templeton, which is about 8 miles south of Paso Robles.

Dreyfus was shot in the face on Wednesday as he searched for the suspect, but the sheriff’s office says his operation was successful and that he was listed in a guarded condition and that the prognosis is good.

“We feel it was an ambush he was planning,” said San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson. “He intended the officers to come out of the police station and attack them.”

Lira reportedly started firing at police cars shortly after 3pm local time as they were entering downtown and the station, Parkinson said.

Dreyfus was shot when he arrived to provide assistance to police officers at the station, the sheriff said.

Hours after the shooting, police found the body of a 58-year-old man near a station in the town of Amtrak. The man was shot in the head “up close,” and investigators believe the incidents were linked, the sheriff’s office said.