A female rookie police officer was shot dead Thursday night, the second killed in the last two days in the United States.
Davis police Officer Natalie Corona, 22, responded to a triple-car accident in the Northern California city and during the investigation shots were fired and she was hit, Davis police Chief Darren Pytel told reporters.
Her killing occurred a day after Shreveport police Officer Chateri Payne was shot dead at a home in that Louisiana city as she prepared to start her shift.
Corona finished the police academy in July and was promoted to police officer upon graduation.
“She had just completed the field training and has been out on her own for just a couple of weeks.” Pytel said.
The chief called the officer’s death “an absolutely devastating loss to the police department.”
“She was a rising star in the department,” he said.
Corona died at the UC Davis Medical Center in nearby Sacramento.
“Despite the lifesaving efforts that were provided by firefighters who were immediately adjacent because the primary fire station is right near where this happened, they weren’t able to save her,” Pytel said.
Police embarked on a manhunt for the shooter. They later said on Twitter that the shooter was found dead in a home in Davis “with what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
Death probed in Louisiana
In the Louisiana shooting, Payne, who also was newly hired, was in uniform and getting ready for work when she was gunned down at a Shreveport home, police Chief Ben Raymond said.
No one had been arrested in the shooting, and it is not known what led to the killing, Raymond said.
Payne was hired in July as an academy cadet and graduated in November. Raymond said her academy classmates grieved over her death.
“This was the job that she was meant to do. She enjoyed serving,” Payne said.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards weighed in on the fatal shooting, calling the death a “tragic loss.”
