"Do you know who I am?" the man asked. The sergeant said he did not. "Do you know where my family is?" the man asked. When the sergeant said he did not know, "the person in ninja garb began to slash" at him with a katana sword, the report states, adding that the sergeant's leg and phone were struck.
The sergeant ran, jumped a fence and reached a building where he joined others from his company. As he and a captain locked the doors and called 911, the assailant kicked and punched doors and windows, according to the report, which has redacted the service members' names.
The Ridgecrest Police Department's
blotter entry from that night says a report came in at 1:19 a.m. of a suspect in a ninja outfit, complete with a sword, at Inyokern Airport. The report cited "at least one victim." More than 20 minutes after the initial contact, the blotter says, a 911 call came in from someone at the airport saying 26 special operations military members were "hunkered down in a hanger [
sic] wondering where help is."
The ninja did not obey deputies' orders
Police officers located the ninja suspect on a nearby road. But the man "refused to follow commands and brandished the sword at deputies," the sheriff's office said. Projectile rounds were used "but were ineffective," it added. Instead, the man ran. When deputies used a Taser on him, he dropped the sword, and deputies were able to take him into custody. He was identified as Gino Rivera, 35.
Rivera was arrested "for attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, brandishing a weapon, brandishing a weapon with the intent to resist or prevent an arrest," along with vandalism and obstructing or delaying a peace officer in the performance of their duties, the sheriff's office said.
Both the sergeant and the captain required stitches for their wounds but were cleared to return to duty, the incident report says.
