Mendocino County authorities have identified the man shot and killed Wednesday by sheriff's deputies as Mariano Lopez Fernandez, 31.
Fernandez, previously a Boonville resident, was a transient growing marijuana in Laytonville when drug agents raiding a large property west of town early Wednesday encountered him in a pot garden, sheriff's Capt. Kurt Smallcomb said.
Authorities described Fernandez as an "armed guard," one of several armed suspects tending to the garden, and said he was shot by three of five deputies at the site when he brandished a rifle.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.
Authorities have not made public how many times he was shot or by how many deputies.
They have not identified the deputies, either.
An autopsy was conducted Thursday, but Smallcomb said officials will not be releasing results until all medical and toxicology tests are complete - a process that usually takes several weeks.
Fernandez was in one of two gardens on a larger property at which a contingent of 60 county and federal agents were serving search warrants.
There was also gunfire at the second garden, where, officials said, four armed suspects fired upon drug agents who returned fire.
The suspects then fled, and it remained unknown if any were struck or injured.
No officers were hit in that exchange.
At least 2,400 marijuana plants were seized in the operation, as well as firearms and other narcotic paraphernalia, authorities said.
Four people were arrested at a residence on the property as well.
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