SUSANVILLE – High Desert State Prison correctional officers fatally shot two inmates as they stabbed a third inmate from Santa Clara County, authorities said Wednesday.
Around 10:50 a.m. Tuesday, 32-year-old Frank Nanez and 48-year-old Raul Cuen used inmate-made weapons to attack 68-year-old Anthony Aguilera, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement.
The CDCR said officers told the men to stop and get down; however, the order was ignored and officers fired a warning shot from a rifle. When the attack continued, the officers fired additional shots and deployed chemical agents, the CDCR said.
Nanez and Cuen suffered gunshot wounds, the CDCR said. All three men received first aid, but Nanez and Cuen were pronounced dead a short time later. The Lassen County Medical Examiner & Coroner will determine Nanez's and Cuen's official causes of death.
Aguilera was taken to an area hospital, where he was listed in serious condition Wednesday.
No other injuries were reported. The CDCR said the weapons used in the attack were recovered.
The officers who opened fire were placed on administrative leave, per CDCR policy. Their names are being withheld due to the ongoing investigation, the CDCR said.
The CDCR sent its Deadly Force Investigations Team to the prison to assist with the investigation. The team conducts criminal and administrative probes into every use of deadly force, the CDCR said, adding that a board will also review the case.
Nanez and Cuen were admitted from Tulare County in February 2012 and January 1994, respectively.
The CDCR said Nanez was serving seven years to life for first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, as well as multiple counts of intentional discharge of a firearm, and Cuen was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder with an enhancement for use of a deadly weapon.
Aguilera arrived at the prison in March 2007 to serve a life sentence for attempted first- and second-degree murder, intentional discharge of a firearm, inflicting great bodily injury and committing a street gang act in the commission of a violent felony, the CDCR said.
Located near Susanville, the High Desert State Prison opened in 1995 and houses roughly 1,700 inmates.
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