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SLO County Sheriff identifies gunman who ambushed officers

June 11, 2020

Mason James Lira

By CCN STAFF

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office identified the gunman who ambushed officers in Paso Robles, shot a deputy in the face, and killed a man on Wednesday as 26-year-old Mason James Lira.

Lira, a Central Coast transient, remains on the loose. Multiple law enforcement agencies are participating in the manhunt.

On his Facebook page, Lira talks about traveling into the future and the past, mind control and loving a daughter even though he is unable to remember who the child’s mother is, in videos he posted in 2017.

Lira is considered armed and dangerous, according to the sheriff’s office. Investigators are asking anyone who spots Lara not to make contact with him. Instead, call the SLO County Sheriff’s Office, Paso Robles Police Department, or Crime Stoppers at (805) 549-STOP.


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If we defund the police, they won’t be able to apprehend people like Lira. Imagine a guy like him at large, armed, desperate……


Thank (insert deity name here) that our police are well funded and could catch this guy before he fired more shots. Cut the funding and this guy could still be at large…..


11

How did he get a gun?


-2

That’s what you don’t understand when you badmouth people like the owner of The Pit, mazin. People manufacture guns in factories, shops, even in their homes. There will always be guns available to the bad guys. Remember that old phrase, “Sitting duck?” Cowboy up.


14

So, we read about an ambush. Did you know that it was actually a shootout? Police returned fire….many rounds. It’s not clear how the guy found by the railroad was shot. Could be from one of several guns, including the suspects. Despite the shootout, Mr. Lira got away and is still at large.


Our cops are the finest, bravest, best-trained police money can buy. They outnumber the homeless guy by a long shot, have better body armor, more bullets, more and bigger guns, infrared goggles, helicopters, boats, horses, bikes and motorcycles, communications equipment, computers and pretty much everything. In short: Paso Police and their brother officers at the Sheriff’s, CHP, Atascadero, SLO and all other police departments are better funded than the suspect.


If we cut the funding, these police won’t be able to have shootouts. They won’t be able to catch criminals like Lira.


-7

I don’t agree with you on much Doc, but your sense of irony on this topic is right on target.


2

Yes….thank you.


Now the FBI is involved, so I think the chances of Lira remaining at large have increased exponentially.


The FBI is funded at a pretty high rate. All local LE agencies plus the FBI is some pretty impressive funding! Add up all the salaries and the gear and hospital bills of those involved in the manhunt and I’m sure it’s millions of dollars per day.


I’m not sure how many millions Lira’s funding is these days, but I’m guessing it’s much higher than the police aggregate.


Because funding=effectiveness. That’s why they caught this guy yesterday. They out-funded him!


Some of my facts are mis-matched with reality. That’s on purpose.


-1

The likes of a lucky, nothing to lose homeless person with obvious mental issues can do this. Without respect for law enforcement, you neighbor will do this.


5

This is the “Thank You” we get when we turn a blind eye to a “speedy trial”, support civil unrest at the expense of public safety and promote the excuse that can be seized for these individual acts of hatred. Next month we may realized that we have been duped by the media.


35

Looks like a great opportunity to test the police defunding campaign by sending in unarmed social workers to de-escalate the situation.


49

LOL…


10

This nice gentleman is volunteering to police our streets for free. He is even willing to shoot his competition in the face! San Luis Obispo cops are about to shoot 3 dogs in admiration of this man.


3

That psychotic violent homeless man is a walking, living argument WHY the fools crying to defund law enforcement are just thoughtless tools who refuse to go beyond “jingles and marches”. Dumb, dumb, dumb


66

Just the latest generation of Americans. Millennials, the undereducated, coddled, 20 somethings who will self destruct unless the country turns into a nanny state to care for and protect them for life.


14

Or maybe those “thoughtless tools” think it is not fair to ask police to participate in a “catch and release” program for our mentally ill homeless. Which is the current course of action. Groundhog day experience for most cops with these characters.


Maybe the thoughtless tools would prefer that 40% of a local budget not go into policing, but rather invest in programs that address these underlying conditions- a mental health and housing crisis. Mitigate versus Triage I say.


Maybe you’re the one who can’t get beyond a jingle or a march.


-33

perhaps he isn’t as psychotic as it seems? He talks of mind control and jumping through time.. _that’s_ why multiple law enforcement officers have not been able to nab him in over 24hrs. He’s something they’ve never faced before – a time hopping agent sent by some greater sinister force that has yet to reveal itself! :)


5