A California sheriff’s deputy suspected of killing his 11-year-old son Tuesday morning was fatally shot after he led authorities on a freeway pursuit, officials said.
The 11-year-old boy was stabbed at his home in Elk Grove, a city 15 miles south of Sacramento, as his mother watched via online security video and called 911 shortly after 8 a.m., local police said.
The child was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, Elk Grove police spokesperson Cristina Gonzalez said. A 6-year-old girl also in the home was unharmed and safe, she said.
Former Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy Marvin Morales is accused in the death. Morales was terminated last year after an internal investigation found he lied about using drugs seized from suspects in 2023, according to a sheriff’s spokesperson and agency documents.
Sheriff Jim Cooper was on his way to work when he spotted a suspect vehicle and relayed the location to fellow law enforcement officers shortly after 9 a.m., sheriff’s spokesperson Amar Gandhi said.
A short chase on Interstate 5 reached speeds of 100 mph before the vehicle crashed near the freeway’s junction with State Route 12 in Lodi, a city in San Joaquin County, authorities said.
The crash happened after California Highway Patrol officers put a spike strip in the SUV’s path, CHP Valley Division Chief Tyler Eccles said at the news conference.
The SUV veered off the freeway when it crashed without colliding with other vehicles, he said.
Officers, including at least two Sacramento County deputies, opened fire and killed Morales, sheriff’s officials said.
It’s not clear whether Morales opened fire, Eccles said.
The shooting was being investigated by the state Justice Department, which looks into all fatal shootings involving officers in California.
Morales submitted a letter of resignation to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office on Feb. 2, 2024, and was terminated on Feb. 7.
The internal investigation last year found he seized drugs from a suspect and then smoked some of the narcotics in a sheriff’s station bathroom. He believed it was methamphetamine but overdosed on fentanyl, according to a sheriff’s summary of findings.
Morales was revived with Narcan and then hospitalized, according to the summary.
The investigation said deputies found a pipe next to him in a sheriff’s station bathroom and drugs in his uniform. A test of Morales’ hair indicated chronic illicit drug use, the investigation summary said, and he subsequently later admitted using drugs.
