polic call of search for marijuana suspec

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SANTA CLARA COUNTY (KRON) -- Authorities have called off the active search for the second man involved in a deadly shootout with officers while guarding a large marijuana grove during a raid near Los Gatos.


The man ran away from the grove he was guarding shortly after a Friday morning shootout with state authorities. Another man apparently guarding the grove was shot dead. The shootout also left a California Department of Fish and Game warden with gunshot wounds to both legs.


The warden, 25-year-old Kyle Kroll, is expected to make a full recovery.


In addition to ending the active search, authorities are wrapping up the larger than expected job of hauling the marijuana plants off the hilly grove.


"We thought we would have enough to fill one truck," Santa Clara County Sheriff's Dept Lt. Luther Pugh told KRON 4's Holly Juscen. "We didn't realize we would be filling dumpsters also."


Investigators believe they've found as much as $30 million worth of marijuana. The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department found out about the marijuana growing operation 10 days ago and then scheduled the raid for Friday morning.


"Our experience with the people who work these gardens is that these people have a bit of a network that will probably move him to another garden if not out of the country."


Investigators say they also found two rifles and evidence of prior cultivation at the site.


"We can see the old irrigation systems, the drip line systems, and the brush being cleared out," one agent said. "So we know they have been up there before but we think this is the first year we've gotten marijuana off this ridge."