California Deputy Killed Serving Eviction Notice; Gunman Dies After Standoff

A sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed on April 9 in the central California while serving an eviction notice. This has sparked a long and tense standoff that ended with the gunman’s death hours later, authorities said.

The shooting happened in Porterville, a town in the Central Valley. Deputies had gone to a home to serve a final eviction notice to a 60-year-old man who had not paid rent for 35 days. Officials said the man was expecting them. “He laid in wait,” Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said. “This is senseless.”

According to NBC Los Angeles, when the deputies arrived at the home, the man opened fire without warning. The deputy who was killed, Detective Randy Hoppert, had come to assist during the incident. He was struck during the gunfire and was pronounced dead in the hospital. Hoppert was a U.S. Navy veteran and had joined the department in 2020.

Video from the scene showed deputies crouching in a residential street as gunfire lasted for several hours. Authorities said he continued to fire at law enforcement during that time. Deputies deployed gas into the home in an effort to force him out.

Residents in the area were either evacuated or told to stay inside. Nearby schools were placed on lockdown as a safety measure.

Miguel Ibarra, who lives across the street, said the scene was shocking. His 82-year-old mother was home at the time. “It was surreal,” Ibarra said. “This is usually a quiet, boring neighbourhood. The police did a really good job keeping us informed.”

The man’s family stayed in contact with him during the standoff. They urged him to surrender peacefully, but he refused, Boudreaux said.

The situation came to an end around 6 p.m. when the man left the house and moved through nearby yards. A SWAT team from Kern County responded with an armored vehicle. Authorities said the man was on the ground when he began firing again. In response, the armored vehicle drove over him, killing him at the scene, Boudreaux said.

“He’s a father. He’s leaving behind a wife who’s four months pregnant, and he has a family. He’s a human being who takes his kids to sports shops at the same shopping centers as you do,” Boudreaux told KSSE.

Law enforcement agencies across the state expressed condolences for Hoppert’s death. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.