RIDGECREST, California — Sheriff's deputies in California shot and killed a man believed to be the target of a two-week manhunt in the rugged, mountainous high desert of central California, authorities said. A man who matched the description of Benjamin Peter Ashley, 34, was fatally shot on Saturday by two deputies after displaying a handgun as they tried to stop him as he walked on a rural road, Kern County sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt said.
“We have not positively identified him, but all indications are it is the suspect we were looking for,” Pruitt said.
Dozens of officers have been searching for Ashley in remote terrain about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Bakersfield. He is suspected of killing a retired dentist, taking three men hostage and wounding two deputies.
The owner of a convenience store had reported that a man matching Ashley's description had bought about $100 worth of junk food.
“He was dirty. He looked like he had been hiking for days,” Gary Welfl, the owner of Brady's Mini-Mart in Inyokern, told KERO-TV.
The crime spree began on July 28, when a gunman took three men hostage in a cabin in the Twin Oaks area after they confronted him about squatting on their property. Authorities said the suspect held the men for more than an hour and threatened to kill them before they escaped.
The search intensified two days later when David Markiewitz, 64, was found dead in another cabin in Jawbone Canyon, 10 miles (6 kilometers) away. On Aug. 1, two SWAT team members were shot and wounded by a shotgun-wielding man as they searched a mobile home in Kelso Valley for Ashley.
During the manhunt, authorities warned residents to stay inside and lock their doors and windows. Two elementary schools and a middle school were shut down. Authorities also closed a stretch of the famed Pacific Crest Trail in the southern Sierra Nevada.
The search area is dotted with unoccupied homes and trailers, garages, abandoned mines, caves and other hiding places. AP
