Roseville’s Mahany Park, site of deadly hostage shooting, partially closed on Friday

Much of Roseville’s Mahany Park is closed Friday, a day after a hostage-taking gunman wanted on a felony warrant allegedly killed one of his captives and injured a second hostage, as well as a California Highway Patrol officer, in a violent shooting and police standoff at the park.

Roseville police on Friday identified the man killed as James MacEgan of Roseville. He was with his spouse when the two were taken at gunpoint and later shot.

Eric Abril, 35, of Roseville, was taken into custody in the shooting. Abril, who was shot and wounded during an exchange of gunfire with police, remains at Sutter Roseville Medical Center and has not yet been booked into Placer County Jail, police said.

Abril’s condition was not known Friday. Roseville police are investigating the shooting, authorities said.

Softball and baseball diamonds and Mahany’s dog park are closed. Roseville Transit service to Mahany Park’s park-and-ride lot is being diverted to nearby Woodcreek High School. Roseville day camps were to remain open Friday, city officials said.

The 225-acre park at Pleasant Grove and Woodcreek Oaks boulevards is a community hub, home to a library branch and the Roseville Utility Exploration Center as well as ballfields, a fitness center, a pool and a playground.

But gunfire and chaos erupted at the community park just after 12:30 p.m. Thursday, when the gunman fired on CHP officers attempting to serve him with a search warrant near the park, the CHP’s Auburn office said in a Friday statement. The CHP statement described the man as a “suspect of an ongoing felony investigation” but did not specify the nature of the felony.

The shooting and hostage situation triggered a stream of police and emergency vehicles and officers in body armor who rushed to the scene. Emergency radio traffic described parkgoers scrambling to duck the gunfire and a man clad in a black shirt and gray pants, firing his weapon as he ran through the park.

People who just minutes earlier were enjoying a mild afternoon at the park were suddenly left in the crossfire.

Thirty-three children attending spring break day camps were spirited away to safety and reunited with family members at nearby Quail Glen Elementary School, said city officials, while Roseville parks staff placed the park’s pool and indoor facilities in lockdown.

“On behalf of the Roseville City Council and City employees, we extend and offer our support and condolences to the victims, their families, all who witnessed this tragic incident and those who responded,” said Roseville Mayor Bruce Houdesheldt, in a statement. “Roseville is known as a safe and caring community that looks out for one another. Times like this are when we are at our strongest and best.”

Firefighters at Roseville fire Station 5 inside the park could hear the gunshots just outside the station house. They then rushed to pull the wounded CHP officer, shot in the chest, inside to safety before the officer was taken to a local hospital, according to police dispatch audio traffic and spokesmen for the Roseville Police Department and CHP.

The officer is recovering at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, CHP officials in the patrol’s Auburn office said Friday.

“It was a rapidly evolving situation and occurred within a couple of minutes of the initial broadcast of the CHP officer being struck by gunfire,” Roseville police Capt. Kelby Newton told reporters Thursday at a briefing in a parking lot near where the shootings occurred. “There were people out and about, walking on the trails in the area.”

MacEgan and his spouse were on an early afternoon stroll in a ravine at the park when they were taken hostage. The gunman shot them both, authorities said.

The gunman held a 71-year-old woman at gunpoint, and officers at bay, as negotiators tried to coax him into surrendering, according to police audio.

“We are getting an incoming call from the suspect,” a dispatcher said. “He has a female in the creek. She is with the person with a gun and has the gun to her head. He is telling the female to tell us to back up or he will shoot her.”

Minutes after the call, the gunman, wounded by at least one gunshot during the standoff with police, walked out of the creekbed with the woman and was taken into custody before 1:25 p.m.

The standoff was over.