Page 6 - Sergeant Helus News Today

In afghanistan. he murdered 12 people before taking his own life. one of the dead is 22-year-old cody kaufman. this morning, codys father was officially notified that cody did not make it out of the bar alive. >> my first-born son, only him and i know how much i love -- how much i miss -- oh, god, this is so -- oh, son, i love you so much. oh, heavily father, just please. >> some of the witnesses who survived the shooting say that they are sure that they -- there would have been more dead if ser...

Sergeant ron helus was planning to retire from the ventura county sheriffs department sometime in the next year or so. last night he was the first officer to respond to a report of a mass shooting in a bar in thousand oaks, california. he was on the phone with his wife when he got the call. he told her, hon, i got to go. i love you. i got to go on a call. sergeant ron helus went through the front door of the bar, accompanied by a california highway patrol officer. sheriff dean said they immediat...

11:22. they made entry approximately four minutes later and thats when sergeant helus was shot, and i dont have the exact timeline, it was probably close to 15 minutes and they did not hear any shots fired between when they regrouped and went in. there were people hiding in restrooms and attics. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]? >> i have no idea. >> reporter: what other locations? >> none that i know of, but certainly when we find out who the suspect is well go to his location and well work with our ...

Oh, heavenly father. >> reporter: for much. day coffman hoped, prayed, his son was simply missing. he used the tracking function on his sons phone to find him. >> its not moving. its not moving. thats the problem. >> the last thing coffman said to his son is dont drink and drive, and -- >> son, i love you. that was the last thing i said. >> reporter: shockingly others in the bar had survived the mass shooting in las vegas just last year. >> unfortunately its the second time in about a year and a...

One. >> we want to bring in steve moore who is a supervisor with the fbi and he is there in,0 thousand oaks where this happened. what are you seeing at the scene, steve? >> reporter: seeing a lot of movement back and forth, and we are not seeing what is going on, but i can tell you and gym will back me up on this. they are searching for vehicles that have not been claimed because thats one of the two quickest ways to identify him. >> people are just waking up, and 12 people killed inside the bor...

Him yet. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]? >> i actually dont know what the ages were. it is a nightclub so i would, you know, speculate they were probably in the 21 to 26-year-old age group. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]? >> sergeant helus and the first patrol officer on the scene they knew they had to take action and they went in and did what they had to do. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]? >> yes, 13. we dont know how many were injured because they went to different hospitals, but i will speculate at about...

Officers and firefighters and people who just wanted to show their respect. passing under large american flags hanging over the road. i talked to one of his colleagues, sergeant julie novak. >> he was talking to his wife and said i love you, got to go, got a call. he was the sergeant that always responded to calls. he was always the guy that was first to the calls. it was kind a joke with the patrols officers that if a sergeant beats you to a call, maybe you arent doing your job as well. ron was...

On the force. >> yeah. >> sergeant helus was the first one in the door minutes after he got the 911 calls. reflect on his role here. >> reporter: this is textbook. i was on s.w.a.t. in los angeles for the fbi and trained with departments in this area. ron was a s.w.a.t. officer and firearms instructor. he, more than anybody, knew exactly what needed to be done. this is tricky when you get multiple agencies arriving at these things. we have seen so many events where people have not gone in. they ...

Wife. >> sergeant helus was having a conversation with his wife as he does several times during the shift and says, hey ive got to go. handle a call. i love you. ill talk to you later. >> reporter: as others rushed out, helus, a 29-year veteran of the vent rah countys sheriffs office rushed in. >> when sergeant helus and the highway patrol officer went in, they immediately, changed gun mire with the suspect, and thats when the sergeant was shot several times. >> helus who was planning for retire...

All we really saw was just smoke and the shots taking off. we tried to get down and get out of there. >> everyone screamed get down. everyone on the dance floor ran off the dance floor and got behind something or dog piled on the floor. sorry. im freezing and shocked at the same time. >> we hear people were trying to get out of the window. the gunman went behind the cash register. there was probably 12 shots before i got out the front door. >> right now police are in the process of telling 12 fa...