Big 5 Gunman Identified as Former Watsonville High Wrestler

The man killed by police Tuesday after e and refused to surrender was Robin Miranda, a 22-year-old Watsonville resident, police reported Wednesday.

Miranda wrestled at . He won the 125-pound division at the CCS MidCals in 2007 and competed in the state tournament in 2008.

Police have not said what motivated Miranda's actions.

“I’m just shocked. That just blows my mind," said Pajaro Valley Unified School District Assistant Superintendent Murry Sheckman, the former principal at Watsonville High. "That wasn’t the Robin I knew.”

Officer Zane Ota and Detective Donny Thul fired a total of five rounds at Miranda, striking him twice. Both are on .

"This incident is surely a tragedy," the police department said in a written statement.

Miranda commandeered the Big 5 Sporting Goods store in the Pajaro Plaza just after 11 a.m. Tuesday. Using a saw and a grinder, he broke into a gun cabinet and cut the locks off a shotgun, police reported.

He loaded the weapon and fired it several times. The two employees inside the store hid while the manager barricaded herself in a back office and called 911, police said.

Miranda shackled the front doors with a bike lock, so when officers arrived, they had to squeeze through a small gap. Five officers got inside the store and confronted the armed Miranda in the firearms section of the store, police said.

The officers ordered Miranda to drop his weapon and surrender, but he refused, police said in a prepared statement.

Oto and Thul shot at Miranda five times. Police did not say how many shots each officer fired or which officer's gun shot the two fatal shots.

Medics tried to administer CPR, but Miranda was pronounced dead at the scene.

Miranda had been in the store earlier in the morning. He inquired about purchasing a rifle and ammunition and filled out paperwork, but was turned down. California also has a 10-day wait—sometimes called a "cooling off period"—to purchase firearms.

Police department brass said Oto, Thul and other officers who stormed the store followed active shooter protocol. The research-based protocol, taught to officers at police academy and in training within the department, puts forth that police should immediately and without delay pursue and make contact with a shooter to save lives and stop the threat.

Both of the officers who fired their weapons are experienced members of the Watsonville force.

Oto is a 31-year veteran of the Watsonville Police Department working as a school resource officer. Thul , who has been with the department for a decade, is assigned to the Investigations Bureau.

In November, Miranda was arrested following a police chase. He had been driving erratically, then refused to pull over. The high-speed pursuit ended when he crashed into some bushes on Buena Vista Drive. He also had priors for theft, police said.