MORAGA -- An East Bay Regional Park District police officer had to be rescued Monday after he was shot at by multiple people while on patrol in a rugged area of park lands near Moraga and Canyon, police said.
The officer called dispatch about 7 p.m. asking for help after he said he was fired upon by assailants with automatic rifles. Police said he returned fire but it was unclear whether he struck anyone.
Officers from Moraga, Lafayette and the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office were summoned to safely retrieve the officer and search for the gunmen.
-Inside Bay Area
The cops had an armored car and a helicopter, so they were able to retrieve the officer, but were unable to find the gunmen, and called off the search at nightfall.
The area is relatively remote, but not to the point where law enforcement can't go in and find a sizeable marijuana grow, especially since they have helicopters. However, it is interesting to note that they are afraid of going in. Perhaps budget cuts have made it impossible for them to effectively combat an organized grow operation (and by "organized," I mean more than one armed person living in tents, watching weeds grow)?
In any event, I find a little bit of humor in the fact that all those uber-rich white people who tried their hardest to be as far away from the flatlands of Oakland as they could possibly get still have to deal with violent crime in their neighborhood.
Guess they need to find a bigger mountain now...
