CA11: Immediate response to gunshot report justified warrantless entry

Nearby officers heard a gunshot and they arrived to locate the cause and source. “[T]the emergency doctrine justified the warrantless search. The officers had an objectively reasonable basis to believe that there was an immediate need to protect themselves and anyone else on the property. Although Velasco identified himself and appeared to cooperate when the officers arrived at the scene, he denied possessing or firing a firearm, which the officers had heard minutes earlier but had not located. ‘Even if the situation were clear in hindsight [that there was no threat], … the police had only a few minutes in which to determine whether a lurking predator or injured person in need of assistance might be [on the property].’ United States v. Russell, 436 F.3d 1086, 1090-93 (9th Cir. 2006) (affirming search because ‘there was confusion’ as to how many persons were involved in the incident, justifying a search ‘to determine whether there were other injured persons’); … The officer’s later testimony—that he conducted the cursory sweep to ‘look[] for a gunshot victim’—corroborates their motivation at the time. United States v. Velasco, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 6781 (9th Cir. Mar. 9, 2021).*