PHILADELPHIA — The village’s former emergency medical services chief was killed by a gunman Tuesday in a Sacramento, Calif., suburb, where he was a K-9 police officer.

Kevin A. Tonn, 31, “was a damned good firefighter and a great friend,” said Philadelphia Fire Chief Rodney C. LaMora Jr., who learned Tuesday night of his friend’s death.

Officer Tonn was shot and killed late Tuesday morning in Galt, Calif., where he responded to a burglary call, according to the Officer Down Memorial Web page. A witness directed him to a suspect, who pulled out a gun when he was approached and fired a single shot.

The gunman fired upon other patrol officers who arrived, then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide.

Mr. Tonn, a California native, had been with the Galt Police Department three and half years.

Mr. LaMora said Mr. Tonn came to the north country while in the Army, assigned to Fort Drum. After being discharged from the Army, he remained at the post as a professional firefighter.

Mr. Tonn was living in Philadelphia when the ice storm of 1998 struck the Northeast, Mr. LaMora said, and suffered water damage in his apartment. He joined the Philadelphia Volunteer Fire Department a short time later, and eventually became the village’s chief of emergency medical services.

He owned a house on Church Street, which he sold in January 2005, when he moved back to California.

He was divorced and had no children.

Officer Tonn was “a very well-respected, very proactive member of our department,” a member of the Galt Police Department was quoted in media reports. “Everybody in town knew him and he knew everybody in town.”

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