Cops: Guerneville man shot by deputy was armed with unloaded shotgun

Photo: Google Maps A Guerneville man shot by a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy on 5th...

A Guerneville man shot by a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy was armed with what was later determined to be an unloaded, pump-action shotgun, police said Friday.

Deputy Theodore Vanbebber shot Jeffrey Singleton, 46, once in the shoulder Wednesday, authorities said. Singleton suffered a wound that was not life-threatening and is being treated at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, according to Petaluma police officials who are investigating the case.

The incident began when deputies responded to a call that Singleton was armed with a knife and acting irrationally at his second-floor apartment on the 16000 block of Fifth Street about 2:40 p.m., police said.

Deputies saw Singleton appear on a small balcony and asked him to come out of his apartment to talk, but he refused, disappearing into his home and reemerging on the balcony with a pump-action shotgun, investigators said.

Vanbebber and two other deputies, John Littrell and Matthew Lupton, ordered him to put the shotgun down, but Singleton “refused those commands and cycled the action of the shotgun as if he was racking a round into the chamber to enable the gun to fire,” said Petaluma police Lt. Dan Fish.

Vanbebber fired four rounds, Fish said. The two other deputies did not shoot their weapons, Fish said. All three deputies are on paid administrative leave pending investigations into the shooting.

Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henryklee



