Police officer, gunman killed in shootout during drug operation

By Jonathan Ayestas, Daniel Macht

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    OLIVEHURST, California (KCRA) — A Marysville Police Department officer was killed in a shootout that also left a gunman dead Wednesday morning during an operation cracking down on transnational drug trafficking organizations, officials said.

The officer was identified as Osmar Rodarte. He was 25.

During a news conference, Yuba County District Attorney Clint Curry said multiple law enforcement agencies on Wednesday launched 20 search warrants across Yuba, Sutter, Tehama and Butte counties as a result of a years-long investigation into drug trafficking.

One of those search warrants brought law enforcement officials across multiple agencies to a neighborhood along Kestrel Court in the Olivehurst area around 7:50 a.m.

Yuba County Sheriff Wendell Anderson said a SWAT team entered a home, which led to an exchange of gunfire between law enforcement and a person inside the home. Both officer Rodarte and the gunman were hurt in the shootout.

Anderson said first responders took Rodarte to the Adventist Health and Rideout hospital, where he later died of his injuries. He was a two-year veteran with the police department and a U.S. Army veteran.

“Obviously, this tragedy has rocked our small community,” Anderson said.

The sheriff said the gunman died at the scene, and there was another person inside the house who DA Curry said is being considered a witness at this time.

“This morning we have learned that one of our young brave Marysville police officers has been killed in the line of duty,” California Assemblymember James Gallagher said on X in confirming the death. “Our hearts and our prayers are with this young officer’s family and our local law enforcement family.”

First responders from across the region converged at the Marysville hospital when the slain officer was taken. They held a procession just before 1 p.m. that passed underneath a large American flag that was hosted onto fire truck ladders near Highway 70.

Rodarte was described as more than a colleague. He was “a friend, a father, an army veteran and a true hero,” Marysville police said in a statement.

Marysville Mayor Chris Branscum said he learned about the shooting earlier in the morning and walked into a room of Marysville police officers, with one sergeant on a knee, saying a prayer for the slain officer.

Curry said prior to Wednesday’s operation, before law enforcement launched their search warrants, they seized hundreds of pounds of different drugs, including methamphetamine and fentanyl.

“These were major players moving poison through our communities,” Curry said. “And we couldn’t just sit and watch it happen. We had to do something about it. And it’s just tragic and all of us would just ask that you be praying for the officer’s family and for this law enforcement community that’s also grieving today.”

The DA said it may also be months before details are released about the shootout that killed Rodarte and the gunman.

Officials said this is the first Marysville officer who has died in the line of duty in more than a century.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said flags at the Capitol and Capitol Annex Swing Space would be flown at half-staff in honor of Rodarte.

“Our thoughts are with the Marysville community and Officer Rodarte’s family as we mourn his sudden and tragic loss,” Newsom said in a statement. “His service and dedication to the safety of the community will never be forgotten.”

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