Cloverdale and Healdsburg were on edge Saturday evening following the 4:47pm shooting in the 300 block of Cloverdale Heights Way, a semi-private road northwest of the city. When Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputies and Cloverdale Police responded, they found “one victim was located at the scene suffering from a gunshot wound. Despite life-saving efforts, including CPR, the victim was pronounced deceased at the scene,” said the Sheriff’s Office in a social media post.
The victim was later confirmed to be a female, who was found outside the house. On Wednesday, she was identified as Tiffany Tyrell, 60, of Cloverdale. A GoFundMe campaign has been initiated for her service.
Through witness statements, detectives identified the suspect as 56-year-old Lawrence Cassidy, of Cloverdale. Cassidy had fled the area in a white Ford SUV before law enforcement arrived, but deputies and detectives later located the vehicle in Healdsburg, at 2nd Street and Matheson. Additional investigation found that Cassidy drove or had been driven from Healdsburg to a residence in the 1500 block of Brush Creek Road in Santa Rosa, but no accomplice has been charged.
At 2:21am on Nov. 23, the Santa Rosa Police Department issued an alert reading, “If you live in the 1500-block of Brush Creek, between Shadow Hill and Normandy Drive, please shelter in place for police activity occurring.” At that time, the Sheriff’s Office deputies deployed a team to the Bush Street Road location, consisting of the SWAT Team, the Hostage Negotiations Team, and Explosives Ordinance Disposal (bomb) unit. Two occupants were safely removed from the residence by SWAT personnel, but there followed a three-hour standoff, during which multiple rounds were fired from within the residence.
“While the suspect was firing, SWAT operators deployed chemical agents in an effort for a peaceful surrender,” stated the Sheriff’s Office. “The Hostage Negotiations Team made repeated attempts to contact Cassidy by telephone and loudspeaker, but he refused to communicate and did not exit the residence.”
Following the standoff and an on-site surveillance conducted by a drone and robotic camera, at about 4:55am law enforcement entered the residence and located a deceased male inside, who was presumed at the time to be the suspect, Lawrence Cassidy. A positive identification was issued the following day. The autopsy report said the cause of death was “a single self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
The shelter in place was lifted as of 5:30am by the SRPD, which had been assisting the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) in the investigation. Following the incident, the Sheriff’s Office updated their alert: “The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office has invoked the Sonoma County Employee-Involved Critical Incident Protocol. It requests that the Petaluma Police Department and the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office lead an independent investigation into this incident. The Marin County Sheriff’s Office Coroner’s Unit will handle the decedent identification and autopsy.”
To Nixle or not?
While the search for the suspect was underway, Healdsburg residents wondered why they had not received any NIXLE alerts about the presence of a murder suspect in town. When the question was posed on Facebook, the Sheriff’s Office responded, “We would not use Nixle to notify a murder suspect that we located his vehicle. Additionally, detectives and deputies were already in the area conducting surveillance.”
When asked why a Nixle alert was not issued in Healdsburg, Emily Fuller of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office responded, “This answer is two-fold. We can only issue Nixles for activity that affects unincorporated Sonoma County (Nixle is very particular about this in our contract), and by sending a Nixle we would have alerted the suspect that we possibly knew where he was.
“Sending a Nixle is a constant assessment of public safety and maintaining the investigation. Because we believed the murder was a targeted attack, we did not feel there was a threat to the public at large. We do sympathize that seeing a large law enforcement presence can be concerning but we always have the safety of the public in mind when conducting our investigations.”
Why aren’t we worried about the person who was shot in the head and died? Not a single mention. Healdsburg quit your whining. You are exposing your selfish white underbelly,
Since when does the swat team release a blow by blow account of how they are keeping us safe. Get off of your hi horse.
Let’s turn to compassion towards the innocent person and family. Grow up!
Thank you. She was a dear friend of mine. She was defending another friend from violence and prayed with her life. She was an amazing person and I have no criticism of law enforcement. They found him quickly and I for one am glad he’s dead. My apologies to his loved ones but Tiff had loved ones too. He’ll never hurt anyone else.