Witness recalls encounter with Ben Lomond gunman minutes before arrest

BEN LOMOND, Calif. (KION) An employee at Redwood Coast Dispensary in Ben Lomond said he encountered the suspect in the murder of Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, in the parking lot of his dispensary.

“I glanced to my right, and the gunman was standing right there…I said something to the effect 'hey what’s up', and he said I need to borrow your car,” employee Mark Kowalski said.

Surveillance footage shows the suspect, Steven Carrillo, with an assault riffle in his hand, speak to employee Mark Kowalski and then try to steal another persons car.

Kowalski says he knew a deputy had been shot, and was hoping Carrillo was an off duty officer, since he looked clean cut. However, Carrillo's next words Made Kowalski realize this was the suspect.

“He said, 'I’m not a bad guy, I’m just sick of all this duality bulls***',” Kowalski said.

It’s still not clear what Carrillo meant by that, but his old friend who the suspect served with in the Air Force told KION Carrillo was anti-establishment.

“A lot of his posts recently - even within the last 48 hours of him ambushing the deputy - it was a lot of anti-law enforcement, but not in the sense of this extreme where they should die. It more of over reaching and abuse of power,” Air Force veteran Justin Ehrhardt said.

When Carrillo ran past Kowalski in the security footage, he hopped into a parked car where a lady was in the passenger seat. Then Carrillo quickly jumped out of the car and ran towards the street, where he was pinned down by a neighbor minutes later.

“It’s just sort of surreal. I’m glad no one here was hurt, but I’m just heartbroken for the law enforcement officer who lost his life and the other two injured,” Kowalski said.