Screen shot from a Sheriff’s Department dash cam shows Randall Kelley exiting his crashed utility truck holding a handgun, shortly before he reportedly aimed it at deputies and Paso Robles Police Officers and was shot dead. Submitted photo
A man who rammed a Sheriff’s patrol car in Paso Robles and then fled the scene in a high-speed pursuit was shot and killed by law enforcement officers after pointing a handgun at them, the Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.
According to Sheriff’s Spokesman Tony Cipolla, at 11:24 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 17 Sheriff’s deputies tried to contact a man sitting in a white utility truck in a parking lot in Paso Robles, who was wanted in connection with a felony stalking case.
As deputies approached the truck, Cipolla said, “The suspect accelerated back striking a Sheriff’s patrol unit. He sped off and a pursuit began.”
The high-speed chase entered Hwy 101 northbound to San Miguel. The suspect swung the truck around near Mission Street in San Miguel and started back towards the chasing units.
Deputies tried putting out a spike strip to disable the car but that didn’t stop him. “As the suspect approached Paso Robles,” Cipolla said, “the Sheriff’s Office terminated the pursuit due to safety concerns.” Deputies lost sight of the truck at that time.
Some time later, the suspect crashed while traveling south on Hwy 101 and came to a stop against the concrete center divider of the highway near the Niblick Road overpass in Paso Robles.
A member of the Sheriff’s Crisis Negotiation Team responded and tried numerous times to get in contact with the suspect, Cipolla said, via cell phone, “in an attempt to gain compliance and come to a peaceful resolution.”
The Sheriff’s Department also deployed a drone on the scene, landing it on the hood of the truck. A screen grab from the drone’s camera, appears to show the man getting out of the truck with a revolver clearly visible through the windshield.
Negotiators tried to no avail to reason with the man for some 20 minutes.
Instead of giving himself up the man got out of the truck and reportedly pointed a handgun at deputies and Paso Robles Police Officers, who had responded to the scene.
“Shots were fired,” Cipolla said, “and the suspect was pronounced deceased at the scene.”
Cipolla said three Paso PD officers and two Sheriff’s deputies were directly involved in the shooting and none of the officers were injured.
The man was later identified as Randall Kelley, 44, with “no known address.” The very realistic-looking handgun he reportedly pointed at officers turned out to be a .177-caliber pellet/BB gun.
Cipolla did not name which agency’s officer(s) fired the fatal shot(s). The investigation is continuing.
He said the case is still being investigated and “Additional information will be released as it becomes available.”
It marks a second deputy-involved fatal shooting where the suspect pointed a realistic pellet gun at deputies and was shot dead.
On July 2, 2025, a Chowchilla man, Andrew Biscay, was involved in “suspicious circumstances” incident at a home in Los Osos but fled the scene before deputies arrived.
When deputies caught up to him later, he pointed a realistic pellet pistol at them and deputies shot and killed him.
That weapon looked very much like a semi-automatic Baretta handgun.
