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Sheriff: SWAT Team Was Best For Job Of Hunting Down Killer

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) -- An autopsy was conducted Tuesday for the man who was shot and killed by Sacramento SWAT team members in the forest of Mendocino County.

Aaron Bassler, 35, died after evading capture for five weeks. He was suspected in the killings of two Mendocinco County land managers.

Deputies in camouflage spotted him walking along a road Saturday and opened fire. He was shot seven times.

CBS13's Koula Gianulias sat down with Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones on Tuesday and asked him about the decision to send his men in after Bassler.

"It was a very difficult decision for me to make," Jones said. "I didn't sleep for a couple of days."

Sending Sacramento's entire SWAT team after an armed and dangerous fugitive was a decision Jones struggled with.

"I knew that our officers had the greatest likelihood of coming out with a successful outcome," he said.

The strategy to capture Bassler -- a suspected murderer on the run for 36 days -- sounds like it's out of a movie -- tracking a predator through rugged turrain, waiting for him to cross their path.

"We knew if we could embed teams of observers in crossroads and areas where he might likely traverse, that he might come to us," Jones said.

More than 43 agencies were on the hunt, but it was a team of three Sacramento depities who spotted him and fired the fatal shots."

Gianulias asked Jones how the deputies identified Bassler and if they asked him to surrender before shooting him.

"I can't share any of those details yet," Jones said. "I can tell you Aaron Bassler never fired a shot. There is a likelihood he never did see the officers (before engagement)."

Jones said Bassler was dressed all in black and carrying an SKS fully automatic assault weapon that was used to kill the two Mendocino men.

He said after Bassler was shot the first time, "he got back up and raised his weapon towards officers as if to engage them, they fired again."

Mendocino officials are now investigating the shooting, but Jones believes his team followed the rules of engagement and met the criteria for use of deadly force as a last resort.

"He had a family, was a member of community up there. They lost a son," Jones said.

But he added, "This guy kept this region at a standstill. This person needed to be captured."

Tuesday the sheriff also expressed relief that all the SWAT officers came home safe, honoring three of them with a promotion to sergeant. They missed the original ceremony because they chose to go with their team to Mendocino County.

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