By Kim Minugh and Ed Fletcher
kminugh@sacbee.com
Police officers have had two brief phone conversations with the suspect shooter who has barricaded himself in a Galt home after fatally shooting an animal control officer earlier today, according to authorities.
The suspect shooter, who lived at the 1st street home until being evacuated Tuesday, is 65-year-old Joseph Francis Corey, said Sacramento County sheriff's Sgt. Jason Ramos.
"The primary goal is to get him to come out and surrender," Ramos said, adding later: "We are trying to establish his state of mind."
Authorities have not yet released the name of the animal control officer killed in the early afternoon shooting. A bank official who was with him suffered a "superficial wound," Ramos said.
Ramos said an armed sheriff's deputy evicted the resident Tuesday. At that point, the locks were changed. The resident reportedly told the deputy that he had nowhere to take his animals, and that is why an animal control officer accompanied the bank officer today, Ramos said.
The resident was not supposed to be at the home today; it was not clear how he got back inside the house, Ramos said.
The shooting occurred in the 600 block of 1st Street. The bank officer and animal control officer approached the home when a shotgun blast came through the closed front door, striking the animal control officer in the torso, Ramos said. The bank officer flagged down a nearby Galt police volunteer, who pulled the animal control officer to safety. Paramedics tried to revive the victim, but were not successful.
Several agencies have arrived to assist Galt police, including Elk Grove and Sacramento police officers and sheriff's deputies.
In Sacramento County, animal control officers are not sworn peace officers and they are not armed, according to a county spokesman.
Call The Bee's Kim Minugh, (916) 321-1038. Follow her on Twitter @Kim_Minugh.
Photo caption: Police personnel on the street at the scene where an animal control officer was fatally shot this morning as the officer assisted a bank officer conducting business related to an eviction, according to authorities. Photo by Randy Pench / rpench@sacbee.com
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