Deputy shot in ‘premeditated’ attack is saved when bullet hits body cam

The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a gunman who shot a deputy Friday, calling it a “premeditated attempted murder on a law enforcement officer.”

Shortly before 11 p.m. Friday, a vehicle approached Deputy Sukhdeep Gill, who was in uniform and standing outside his patrol car near a reservoir on a rural mountain road in the foothills of Morgan Hill.

As the vehicle got closer to the deputy, the car’s headlights vanished and multiple shots were fired at Gill, authorities said. One of the bullets struck his body-worn camera and body armor. Photos released Monday show the camera was pierced in the center.

Two other bullets struck the back of the deputy’s patrol car in what officials have called an “unprovoked attack.”

Gill returned fire, but it’s unclear whether the suspect was struck before fleeing northbound on Uvas Road in what the deputy described as a 2000s-model silver sedan. The lawman was taken to an area hospital and is recovering, authorities said.

The Sheriff’s Office is actively searching for a suspect and is asking anyone with information to call the investigations main line at (408) 808-4500.