Police Kil* Man by ‘Intentionally’ Running Him Over with SWAT Vehicle After He Fatally Sho* Deputy
David Morales, 59, shot and killed Tulare County Sheriff’s Deputy Randy Hoppert, 35, before officers ran him over with a BearCat on April 9
Authorities in California are investigating a confrontation between an armed individual and sheriff’s deputies that resulted in two deaths. Officials say the incident unfolded during an active law enforcement response.
Several deputies in Tulare County, located in the state’s Central Valley, initially arrived at the Porterville home of 59-year-old David Morales at 10:20 a.m. local time on Thursday, April 9, to serve an eviction notice.
The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) said in a statement shared on Facebook that Morales opened fire on them, striking an officer later identified as Deputy Randy Hoppert, 35.
Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said that Morales was waiting for officials to arrive and serve him with the eviction notice after he failed to pay rent for 35 days. He said the suspect opened fire as soon as deputies arrived.
Morales, wearing camouflage and armed with a long rifle, then escaped the home through a window, authorities said, per the Visalia Times-Delta. He hid in the brush and initially eluded officers before exchanging multiple shots with the deputies at the scene, according to ABC 30.
Hoppert was taken to the hospital, where he died from his injuries, the TCSO said.
Officials said that by 6 p.m., a BearCat SWAT vehicle belonging to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, which was assisting with the incident, had run over and killed Morales as he was firing at armored vehicles, the outlets reported.
“We intentionally ran him over,” Sheriff Boudreaux said during a press conference, per ABC7. “Don’t shoot at cops. You shoot at cops, we’re gonna run you over.”
The motive in the incident is currently unclear, and Morales had no prior criminal history, Boudreaux told the outlets. Morales had 18 registered handguns, but the rifle he used to shoot at deputies was unregistered, the sheriff said.
Several SWAT teams, as well as crisis negotiators and the California Highway Patrol, responded to the incident, the outlets reported, and four blocks of homes in the residential area were cleared as a precaution.
Boudreaux said that Hoppert’s body was taken to the coroner’s office and that his wife and mother had been notified. He was a six-year veteran of the sheriff’s office and a Navy corpsman who served from 2010 to 2015, according to the Times-Delta.
Officials considered using a medevac helicopter to transport Hoppert to a trauma center in Fresno, Calif., about 70 miles away, but his condition was too unstable to be transported by air, Boudreaux said.
“Sheriff Boudreaux, and all of us at the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office, are shocked and deeply saddened by today’s tragic events. We ask that you keep our deputy’s grieving family in your prayers,” the TCSO wrote on Facebook.
