SANTA CLARA, CA - A Beale Air Force Base airman who police believe shot and killed a woman he was dating Saturday night in Marysville died in a shootout with police officers in Santa Clara Sunday.

Detectives were searching for Ian Sloan York, 21, on homicide charges following the shooting around 11:30 p.m. Saturday at the Mountain Oaks apartment complex on the 2300 block of Cheim Boulevard, Marysville police Sgt. John Osbourn said.

Witnesses told the Marysville Appeal-Democrat that York became angry after seeing his girlfriend, 19-year-old Kelly Roome, put her arm around another man earlier in the evening.

"We do know that they were in a domestic dispute earlier in the evening," Osbourn said.

Later that night, the couple was arguing at the apartment complex when York reportedly pulled a gun and started shooting, hitting Roome and a 21-year-old man.

"I heard a loud bang, I thought it was a firework," said on-site apartment manager Wes Porter. "Next thing I knew, people were screaming, running out the door."


Roome was pronounced dead at Rideout Memorial Hospital from a single gunshot wound to the chest. The male victim, also an airman at Beale, was treated and released.

"The male victim was a friend of the suspect," Osbourn said.

The apartment manager told the Appeal-Democrat that both York and Roome were arguing and appeared to be intoxicated immediately before the shooting.

Witnesses said York fled the scene in a black Chrysler Crossfire. The vehicle was found by deputies abandoned in Placer County a short time later.

Osbourn said Marysville police received a tip that York was possibly headed for the Santa Clara area and Santa Clara police were notified.

At about 11:30 a.m. Sunday, a Santa Clara police officer spotted York on Bowe Avenue near El Camino, Santa Clara Police Department Sgt. Ray Carreira said.

The suspect fired at the officer and the officer returned fire and called for assistance from Santa Clara Police Department's SWAT team, Carreira said.

Surrounding agencies, including the Sunnyvale Police Department and the California Highway Patrol, responded. York fled into a wooded creek area near a shopping center.

Once York was found, more shots were fired and York was killed near El Camino Real, Osbourn confirmed.

York was an Air Force airman first class who was stationed at Beale Air Force Base as part of the security forces, Beale spokesman Airman Chuck Broadway said.

York's squadron commander at Beale, Maj. Chad Gallagher, would not confirm York's identity pending family notification, but said the gun used in Roome's killing was not a military service weapon.

Originally from Indianapolis, York was assigned to Beale in December 2007. Mountain Oaks apartment manager Wes Porter says Roome, also from the Indianapolis area, had come to Marysville several weeks earlier to be with York. The two are believed to have been dating for quite some time.

Porter says he was led to believe that Roome had recently decided to return home to Indiana, and was planning on leaving this week.