Sacramento sheriff's deputy shot in face

SACRAMENTO - A transit deputy was shot in the face Tuesday at a light rail station in Sacramento after getting into a fight with a suspect. He was in stable condition, authorities said.

The suspect, who was not identified, was arrested late Tuesday after a SWAT team searched for him room by room at a hotel where he was hiding.

"He was hiding in an alcove," Sacramento County Sheriff's Department spokesman Sgt. Tony Turnbull said.

The deputy was conscious and talking as he was being transported to a hospital by ambulance and was in surgery Tuesday night, Turnbull said.

"It's promising that he was talking as he was leaving the scene in the ambulance," Turnbull said.

The shooting happened at the Regional Transit light rail station near Watt Avenue and Interstate 80.

The deputy, a four-year veteran assigned to the light rail station where the attacked happened, first radioed to say he was in a fight with a suspect near on light rail platform and minutes later radioed back to say he had been shot. It's not clear what started the fight, Turnbull said.

Other deputies and officers with Sacramento police and the California Highway Patrol responded quickly. Among them were deputies on a sheriff's helicopter who saw the suspect run into a Red Roof Inn hotel.

About 100 officers were at the scene, and a SWAT team took about three hours to find the suspect. "They are going to take their time for officer safety reasons and also for the safety of the occupants that are still at the motel," Turnbull said earlier.

Light rail stations in the area were closed, and traffic was blocked for several blocks around the hotel as officers searched it.