Hollister Police remember killed police officer

A Newman police officer was fatally shot during a traffic stop early Wednesday morning.

Newman police said 33-year-old Officer Ronil Singh was killed just before 1 a.m. during a traffic stop at Merced Street and Eucalyptus Avenue in Newman. He cried “shots fired” over the radio and then went silent.

Hollister, like police stations around the country have their flags half staffed and are wearing mourning bands in honor of their fallen brother.

“Any time a community loses an officer in a tragedy like this its a loss to the community, our state, our profession and our nation as well,” Hollister police chief David Westrick said.

A police officer in Hollister is one of Singh’s former partners. Westrick and several other officers met Singh five years ago at a Hollister motorcycle rally.

“He was very ambitious and funny,” Westrick said. “[he] worked with us on our teams that patrolled downtown during the event.”

“He was living the American Dream I’ll say that,” Stanislaus deputy Royjin Singh said. “He immigrated from Fiji…loved camping loved fishing. He loved his family.”

Investigators released a photo of the suspect and his vehicle. The suspect had fled the scene in his vehicle believed to be a gray, extended cab Dodge Ram pickup.

The vehicle has been found by investigators.

“Our main focus is trying to identify who this person is and move forward from there,” Royjin Singh said.

According to odmp.org Singh is the 147th police officer who has died in the line of duty this year in the U.S. and the 51st by gunshot.

Ronil Singh is survived by a wife and five-month-old child.