A central California sheriff’s deputy was fatally shot on Thursday morning while serving an eviction notice, leading to a prolonged standoff that concluded with authorities killing the suspect by running him over with an armoured vehicle.
The incident began when Tulare County deputies attempted to serve the notice to a 60-year-old man in Porterville, approximately 240 kilometres northeast of Los Angeles. The man opened fire, killing one of the deputies.
He then barricaded himself inside the home with a rifle for several hours. During the standoff, authorities deployed gas, but the man continued to fire at law enforcement. The confrontation ended around 6 p.m. when the man emerged from the property and moved through neighbouring yards.
Sheriff Mike Boudreaux stated at an evening news conference that a Kern County SWAT team drove an armoured car into the yard where the man was lying on the ground. After he began firing at them, the team drove the vehicle over him, resulting in his death.
Boudreaux said the man had failed to pay rent for 35 days and had been expecting law enforcement to arrive to serve a final notice for eviction. Boudreaux said he “laid in wait” and immediately shot at officers when they arrived.
The man’s family was in contact with him and urged him to come out peacefully, but he refused, Boudreaux said.
The deputy who was killed was part of a group of officers that arrived to help after gunfire began, Boudreaux said. Bystander video shot from a driveway and posted by the Visalia Times-Delta showed several armed deputies crouched on the road in a residential neighborhood when a series of shots rang out. Some of the deputies began running away. The gunman cannot be seen from the video. Additional video showed someone being carried into an emergency medical vehicle.
Boudreaux later identified the slain deputy as Detective Randy Hoppert, a veteran of the U.S. Navy who joined the sheriff’s department in 2020.
“This is senseless,” Boudreaux said.
Residents in the neighborhood were evacuated by SWAT teams or urged to shelter in place for several hours, and nearby schools were on lockdown.
Miguel Ibarra, whose 82-year-old mother lives across the street from the gunman, said it was surreal to see his parents’ house on TV in what is normally a quiet, boring neighborhood.
“The police did a really good job keeping us informed and keeping us in the know of what’s going on,” he said.
