Subject of California manhunt killed by deputies

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[August 17, 2015]  By Kevin Murphy
 
 (Reuters) - A man suspected of murder, taking three hostages and shooting two deputies in central California late last month was killed by law enforcement officers after a manhunt in remote, rugged terrain, officials said on Sunday.

Two deputy sheriffs confronted Benjamin Peter Ashley, 34, on a dirt road in the early evening on Saturday after the owner of convenience store reported that a man fitting Ashley’s description had bought some food, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said on Sunday.

Two deputies found Ashley walking about a half mile from the store and ordered him to show his hands, Youngblood said. Ashley pulled out a handgun and the deputies fired, Youngblood said.

Ashley was fatally wounded, and may have been hit by his own gunfire as well as that from the deputies, Youngblood said. Three other guns were found on his body.

Ashley is believed to have been hiding in the woods along the Pacific Crest Trail and was probably headed back to the trail, Youngblood said. The search for Ashley over a 100-square- mile area of high desert terrain east of Bakersfield, California involved state, county and federal officers, some in aircraft, and the public had been warned to be on guard, Youngblood said.

"There’s a lot of relief," Youngblood said. "We were spending an enormous amount of money trying to capture this guy before he killed again."

Ashley was suspected of killing retired dentist David Markiewitz, 64, found dead on July 30 in a cabin in the woods in Kern County, Youngblood said. Two days earlier, Ashley briefly took three men hostage in another cabin before they got away, police said. They had confronted him and told him to leave.

On Aug. 1, Ashley shot two Kern County SWAT team deputies who found him hiding in the woods, Youngblood said. One of the deputies suffered serious injuries.

(Reporting by Kevin Murphy in Kansas City, Missouri; editing by Larry King)

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