By Stephen Baxter

Santa Cruz Sentinel

SANTA CRUZ -- Santa Cruz police detectives spoke briefly with Jeremy Peter Goulet through his front door before he disappeared for a moment and emerged from another door with a handgun.

"We now know that the detectives had absolutely no chance to protect themselves or return fire," Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak said Thursday at a press conference where he again was flanked by the top brass from every law enforcement agency in the county.

"They barely had the opportunity to turn and run," Wowak said of detective Sgt. Loran "Butch" Baker and detective Elizabeth Butler.

Goulet, armed with a plane ticket, passport and two handguns, was under investigation for a break-in and alleged sexual assault of a former co-worker. He's also being investigated by the Sheriff's Office in connection with a sexual assault of a child, adding to an already lengthy list of sex and violence-related arrests stemming back more than a decade -- not all of which the Santa Cruz detectives were aware of at the time.

The plainclothes detectives who were there to get Goulet's "side of the story," Wowak said.

"They were in the process of interviewing Goulet and had spent some time with him," Wowak said. "During that interview, Goulet suddenly surprised the officers ... and shot and killed them within seconds."

Using a .45-caliber Sig Sauer handgun, one of three registered to him, Goulet shot them on the doorstep of his home, which is tucked behind a preschool that had dozens of children inside. Detectives haven't said how many shots Goulet fired, but one of them struck a woman on nearby Stanford Avenue, grazing her in the leg. She was shaken but not seriously injured.

Baker and Butler were not wearing body armor, Wowak said, pausing to hold back tears, he added, "Body armor would not have helped the officers."

He declined to elaborate where they were shot or how many times, out of respect for their families.

Goulet stole the detectives guns and car keys and donned Baker's bulletproof vest found inside the car.

At some point in the 30-minute showdown, Goulet texted his twin brother Jeffrey, "I'm in big trouble. I love you."

Minutes after the first shooting, Goulet was dead after a shootout with authorities about a block away on Doyle Street. Wowak said they believe Goulet was trying to return to his home when a team of six officers and deputies encountered him on Doyle.

Using two guns, one of them Baker's, Goulet fired multiple times on the officers, hitting several vehicles including a Santa Cruz fire truck, but injuring no one. Four of the six officers returned fire, killing Goulet.

Those officers, three from the Santa Cruz Police Department and one from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office, are now on routine paid administrative leave.

Goulet had his passport and a plane ticket to New Mexico departing this week in his pocket when he died, Wowak said.