A veteran California sergeant nearing retirement was gunned down as he selflessly charged into a crowded bar to stop the massacre.
“The fact that he was the first in the door doesn’t surprise me at all,” said fellow Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Eric Buschow of Sgt. Ron Helus. “When you call 911, he’s one of the guys you want showing up.”
The sergeant was on the phone with his wife around 11:20 p.m. when their conversation was cut short by a call of shots fired at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, Calif., said Helus’ boss, Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean.
“Hey, I gotta go handle a call. I love you,” Helus, 54, told his wife, according to Dean. “I’ll talk to you later.”
Later never came for the couple, as Helus was shot several times and killed in a gun battle with troubled former US Marine Ian David Long inside the bar, which was hosting its popular, weekly “College Country Night.”
Helus and a California Highway Patrol officer, who hasn’t been publicly named, were on scene within minutes, and were the first responders to brave their way into the bar, darkened by a smoke bomb set off by Long.
The former Marine machine-gunner opened fire on the pair with his .45-caliber Glock 21, striking Helus several times.
The highway patrolman pulled Helus out of the bar to safety, but his injuries were too severe.
Helus was pronounced dead at an area hospital early Thursday morning, one of 12 people killed by Long before the gunman took his own life.
“He went in there to save people and paid the ultimate price,” said Dean, choking back tears. “He died a hero.”
Helus was a 29-year veteran looking forward to retirement in the next year or two, and leaves behind an adult son in addition to his wife, grieving colleagues said.
“He was just a great guy, a gentle soul,” said Buschow, adding that Helus recently took up fly-fishing and loved taking mountain trips with his son.
“He loved spending time with his son,” Buschow told CNN. “They would go fishing up in the Sierras [Nevada mountains] together . . . I can’t imagine what they’re going through right now.”
Despite his tender home life, Helus was also a dedicated “cop’s cop” who never shied away from a tough assignment, spending much of his career on the SWAT team and working narcotics, Buschow said.
“If you were a victim of a crime, you want him investigating the case,” Buschow said. “He would go to the ends of the Earth to find a suspect.”
Helus served in recent years as a firearms instructor for recruits in the sheriff’s academy, and also owned and operated a business in which he taught gun safety to permit applicants, according to CNN.
Thousands of mourners lined US Highway 101 on Thursday morning to watch as a hearse carrying Helus’ body traveled from a hospital in Thousand Oaks to the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office.
At least one woman held a large American flag as the somber procession passed.
Buschow told CNN of his fallen colleague, “I don’t think there’s anything more heroic than what he did.”
With Wires
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