Page 10 - Sergeant Helus News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

And then he shot the cashier. just a young girl. >> the subject was at the front shooting at everybody. think he's still inside the bar. >> reporter: witnesses say the bar quickly filled with smoke. >> the gunman was throwing smoke grenades. >> we got multiple people down. we need a lot of ambulances. >> reporter: amid the chaos, the voice of a young man calling home. >> mom, dad, this is max. there's been a shooting at borderline. please wake up. >> reporter: the gunman keeps firing. >> i was on the dance floor. i heard the shooter. i looked back. and then, a split second later, everybody yel...

That was the last thing i said. >> reporter: today, he had one last message for his son. >> i just want him to know that he -- he is going to be missed. >> no shortage of heartbreak in this community tonight. and there was another moment here today, when the sheriff, who was set to retire tomorrow, was asked if that sheriff's sergeant, ron helus, had survived. he broke down as he delivered the news. here's the moment, and then i spoke with the sheriff just a short time ago. it was a powerful and heartbreaking moment here today, when the community first learned that 54-year-old sergeant ron hel...

>> sergeant helus died at the -- the sergeant passed away at the hospital about an hour ago.>> orep r geoff dean with us. we watched you this morning talk about your friend, sergeant helus. an impossible day for you, as you try to protect a community, but also react to the loss of your friend. what can you tell us about sergeant helus? >> 29-year veteran of the sheriff's office, a father, a husband. really, really cared about his people. trained them really hard so they would always be safe. had a wonderful relationship with his wife. sadly, talked to her right before he went into that, ran in...

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 immediately exchanged gunfire, with the suspect, and that's when sergeant helus was shot several times. >> he was totally committed. he gave his all. and tonight, as i told his wife, he died a hero because he went -- he went in to save lives, to save other people. >> america's latest m...

This morning, cody's 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 sergeant ron helus did not rush in and exchange fire with the killer. sheriff sergeant eric buschow said, he loved spending time with his son. they would go fishing up in the sierras. i can't imagine what they're