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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Sheriff vehicles give shelter to a swat team that surrounded an RV in a residential neighborhood on Pacifica Avenue. After several hours, and after the officers shot out the RV's back window, they were able to determine that Ronald Norton, who had had barricaded himself inside, had committed suicide.
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Sheriffs face suicide standoff
Man allegedly involved in domestic violence dispute committed suicide moments after being pulled over
By GEORGE MOORE and KATE CARTER
A man with a gun in a recreational vehicle parked just around the corner from Cupertino City Hall kept law enforcement personnel at bay for about five hours on the morning of March 21. But Sheriff's Office officials said he had been lying dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound just moments after first being pulled over by sheriff's deputies.
Public Information Officer Terrance Helm said deputies responded to a domestic disturbance in Cupertino at about 6:30 p.m. the prior evening. The deputies found evidence of domestic violence and criminal threats and issued a felony warrant for Ronald Norton, a transient in his 60s, who had been living in his recreational vehicle.
Norton and the alleged domestic violence victim had been divorced for about six years. He had fled the scene prior to the deputies arrival.
Deputies spotted the suspect at about 8 a.m. the next morning and pulled him over about half a block east of Farallone Drive and Pacifica Avenue, Lieutenant Ernie Smedlund said.
"He refused to follow the sheriff's commands to exit the vehicle," Smedlund said. "They had information that he was in possession of a hand gun, so they didn't approach the vehicle."
Just moments after Norton was pulled over, Smedlund said they heard a popping sound inside the vehicle, which turned out to be the gunshot that took his life.
The Sheriff's Emergency Response Team arrived at the scene and contained the situation, and there did not seem to be any threat to public safety. The immediate area was evacuated and nearby Eaton Elementary School was in a state of lockdown.
Helm said sheriffs were unsure of how many people were in the vehicle and treated the situation with caution. After failing to reach Norton by phone or get any responses over the course of the morning, at about 1 p.m. sheriffs broke out the vehicle's back window and used a robot camera to view its interior.
The team entered through a side door of the motor home and confirmed he was in fact dead from a gunshot wound to the chest.
Helm said the shot was "definitely" fired by the man soon after he was pulled over, about 8:03 a.m., as no shots had been fired since command staff had been on the scene.
Neighbor Janie Woodbeck, who lives in front of the vehicle, said she, her grandson visiting from Arizona and about a dozen of her neighbors who were evacuated just after noon had lunch together nearby while waiting to return to their homes.
"I felt very safe," she said of the experience of first waiting in the back of her home and then being escorted away from the area. "The sheriffs were being extraordinary careful. We thought they were being maybe too cautious, if anything."
It was unclear what took place at the woman's residence the night before, but according to Helm, the victim's injuries were not life threatening and she did not require any medical attention.
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Cupertino, California Since 1947
