The suspect in the fatal shooting of a California sheriff’s detective Thursday was himself killed amid a standoff — and a local sheriff unapologetically spelled out what went down for reporters and the public.
“We intentionally ran him over. … You shoot at cops, we’re going to run you over,” Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said Thursday, KSEE-TV reported. “He got run over; he got what he deserved.”
‘This situation went from a civil order of removal to where our officer was shot and killed. This is senseless.’
“The suspect was lying prone on the ground, in camouflage clothing, continuing to pose a threat,” Boudreaux said later during a news conference, according to Fox News. “The situation was resolved, and the suspect is now dead.”
Boudreaux said in a Thursday evening news conference that a BearCat armored vehicle operated by the Kern County Sheriff’s Office ran over the suspect — 59-year-old David Morales — following an hours-long standoff, KSEE said.
“He was not shot,” Boudreaux said of Morales, Fox News noted. “One of the BearCats ran over him and killed him.”
The incident began when an eviction notice served at a home in Porterville escalated into a shooting, KSEE said. Porterville is about an hour north of Bakersfield.
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The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office said the incident began when sheriff’s office officials arrived at a home in the 1700 block of West Brian Avenue around 10:20 a.m. to serve an eviction notice, the station said.
With that, an individual inside the residence began shooting at the officers who served the notice, KSEE noted.
Sheriff Boudreaux told the station that Porterville Police knew about Morales and that he had been renting the property.
However, KSEE noted that Morales had stopped paying rent, which prompted the eviction notice visit.
“This is not normal. This is not what reasonable people do,” Boudreaux said, according to the station.
“This situation went from a civil order of removal to where our officer was shot and killed. This is senseless,” Boudreaux said, according to Fox News.
A witness to the shooting showed the station a 10-second video during which 12 gunshots were heard and at least four officers were taking cover behind a parked car, KSEE noted.
Boudreaux said the detective who was fatally shot in the standoff was a father with a pregnant wife, the station said, adding that the detective was shot in the head.
The detective was pronounced dead at 11:57 a.m. at Sierra View Medical Center in Porterville, KSEE said.
Sheriff Boudreaux identified the fatally shot detective as 35-year-old Randy Hoppert, a six-year veteran of the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office.
Hoppert was a Navy corpsman who served from 2010 to 2015 and joined the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office in January 2020, Boudreaux said, according to Fox News.
“Sheriff Boudreaux, and all of us at the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office, are shocked and deeply saddened by today’s tragic events,” the sheriff’s office said. “We ask that you keep our deputy’s grieving family in your prayers.”
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