Heavy police activity in Sonoma after a man claimed to shoot his wife and officer

SONOMA (BCN) — A man who allegedly shot at his wife and then barricaded himself inside his Sonoma home for hours was safely taken into custody at about 7:30 p.m. tonight, city of Sonoma police and Sonoma County sheriff’s officials said.

Sonoma Police Chief Bret Sackett said the sheriff’s special operations and hostage negotiations unit’s responded to the man’s home in the

300 block of Nicoli Lane, near 4th Street West, after an acquaintance phoned authorities at about 3:15 p.m. today to report that the man had just told him that he had just shot his wife and needed a place to hide.

The caller also told authorities that a police officer also might have been shot, according to Sackett.

At 6:30 p.m. the sheriff’s office issued an alert urging residents to avoid the area, which is only two blocks south of the Sonoma Valley

Hospital.

The hostage negotiations team began negotiating over the phone with the suspect, later identified as 55-year-old Timothy Deschenes of Sonoma, Sackett said.

During the negotiations, Deschenes’ demeanor was volatile and he said he was going have a shootout with police, according to Sackett.

Deschenes’ wife was eventually reached on her mobile phone and it was determined that she was uninjured and in a safe location, Sackett said.

However, she confirmed that Deschenes had shot at her earlier in the day, he said.

During the incident, Deschenes would frequently open the front door to his house, yell at the deputies and then close the door and at one

point he suspect threw a handgun, gun magazines and a cellphone out the front door and onto the front lawn, according to Sackett.

The Sheriff’s SWAT team approached the house with an armored personnel carrier and began dialog with Deschenes over a loudspeaker and

eventually he came outside and surrendered without incident, Sackett said.

At this time detectives from the sheriff’s violent crimes investigations unit are handling the investigation, which will include a search of the residence and an interview with both Deschenes and his wife, according to Sackett. The possible charges against Deschenes have not been

determined at this time, he said.