This is a press release from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office. The information has not been proven in a court of law and any individuals described should be presumed innocent until proven guilty:
On 08-04-2020 at approximately 4:30 AM, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a disturbance at a residence located in the 4500 block of Ridgewood Road in Willits, California.
A family member reported to Sheriff’s Office dispatch that Jacob Everett McKey was responsible for causing the disturbance at the residence.
Deputies made telephone contact with the family member during their scene response and learned McKey had made criminal threats against the family member.
When Deputies arrived at the residence, they met with the family member in the driveway. Once there, they were able to speak with McKey from a distance but he was agitated and demanded they leave the property.
The Deputies attempted verbal deescalation techniques in speaking with McKey but he refused to engage and only demanded they leave.
The Deputies offered to provide the family member a ride to a different location to allow McKey to remain at the residence alone, thus deescalating the situation.
The family member agreed and as the Deputies were backing out of the driveway to leave, McKey exited the residence and shined a flashlight at a Deputy’s patrol car.
The flashlight then turned to a laser dot light that was illuminated on the side of the patrol car. At this time, the Deputy heard multiple gunshots coming from McKey’s position at the front of the residence.
The Deputies believed both the flashlight and the laser dot light were mounted to a firearm. McKey then went back into the house.
The Deputies retreated in their patrol cars a short distance away, to get the family member and themselves to a safer location.
A radio call for additional law enforcement resources was made before deploying back to the residence using the surrounding terrain for protection as they made verbal attempts to get McKey to exit the house peacefully.
Additional Sheriff’s Deputies as well as officers from the Ukiah Police Department, Willits Police Department and the California Highway Patrol arrived to assist.
Deputies engaged with McKey verbally, using deescalation techniques, for approximately 45 minutes before they were successful in getting McKey to exit the residence unarmed.
McKey was handcuffed and detained without further incident or injury and no persons were injured during the entire incident.
Mendocino County Sheriff’s Detectives took over the investigation at the residence and were able to locate a 9mm pistol that had a weapons mounted flashlight/laser light combination.
Sheriff’s Detectives also found two rifles, one of which was determined to be an assault weapon under California law, thus illegal to possess.
McKey was subsequently arrested and booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held in lieu of $500,000.00 bail.
At this time the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the investigative reports to determine official criminal statue charging (if any) and the listed charges in this press release are related only to the probable cause arrest/booking of McKey in regards to the incident described.
