Officer-involved shooting causes power outage, problems for nearby businesses
Traffic on Highway 111 in Indio finally flowing between Jefferson and Madison Streets.
Indio police shut down the roadway for more than 17 hours as Riverside County Sheriff’s deputies investigated the fatal shooting involving California Highway Patrol and Indio Police officers that left a man, who shot at authorities, dead.
“The officers from both agencies were not injured and they’re now on paid administrative leave,” said Dep. Armando Munoz, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department.
The suspect’s car, a white Honda Accord was towed from the area at around 4:20pm Monday.
The shooting created such major hiccups for businesses nearby. Authorities say a stray bullet struck a power pole, shutting off power to Valley Children’s Medical Center nearby.
More than $80,000 worth of medicine stored in refrigerators at the center was almost lost, until Imperial Irrigation District brought in a generator to get power back up.
With such a big stretch of a major thoroughfare closed, business also stalled at places like Shield’s Date Garden.
“It was really slow, we had a few customers that could get through,” said Itza Leon, general manager at Shield’s Date Garden.
But no where near as many as usual: the normally buzzing tourist attraction sees 250 customers a day. That doesn’t include diners at the caf, which had to close because business was so slow.
“Having this road closed, it was kind of damaging,” Leon said.