Gunshot fired after deputies enter Moreno Valley home leads to murder-suicide investigation
MORENO VALLEY, Calif., — Authorities say a welfare check led to a murder-suicide investigation after a man fatally shot himself moments after deputies entered a Moreno Valley home and located a deceased woman Friday morning, Aug. 19.
The incident led to an hours-long SWAT standoff, until deputies re-entered the residence and found a man who appeared to have killed himself, according to officials.
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At the request of a concerned family member, at around 11:20 a.m. deputies from the Moreno Valley Sheriff’s Station responded to the 25000 block of Billie Drive, southeast of Cactus Avenue and Perris Boulevard, to check the welfare of the home’s occupants, Riverside Sheriff’s Sergeant Ben Ramirez reported after the initial investigation.
When deputies arrived and received no answer at the door they entered the residence, at which time they located a female adult “with significant trauma”, according to Ramirez, who said the victim was found to have already succumbed to her injuries and passed away.
As deputies were checking on the woman, they heard a gunshot from a different room inside the home and immediately backed out of the residence and requested additional resources to the scene.
As a Sheriff’s helicopter circled overhead, deputies established a perimeter around the home and neighborhood and began evacuating nearby residences.
Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Bureau-Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team and Hazardous Device Team (HDT – Bomb Squad) members responded and began hailing any occupants of the residence to exit the home and surrender to officials according to Ramirez, who went on to say that a robot was eventually sent into the home to surveil the interior of the home and search for the source of the earlier heard gunshot.
“After receiving no response, resources were deployed and a deceased male adult with a gunshot wound was found inside,” Ramirez explained.
No additional subjects were found inside the residence, and members of the Sheriff’s Central Homicide Unit were requested to the location to assume the investigation.
“This incident will be investigated as a murder-suicide,” said Ramirez, who added that the subject’s names would not be released until their families were notified.
Neighbors later told KTLA5 that an elderly couple, including a woman believed to be bed-ridden, lived inside the home, “but were seldom seen.”
“Haven’t seen her in years, years. Literally haven’t seen the wife in years,” Cristina Will, who lives nearby, told KTLA after learning of the fatal incident and investigation. She also said the home smelled “like death” and that she only saw the husband “maybe once every couple of months.”
The Sheriff’s investigation is ongoing, and Ramirez said no further information would be released, pending further investigation.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation is encouraged to contact Investigator Mendoza of the Central Homicide Unit at (951) 955-2777 or Investigator Fernandez of the Moreno Valley Station at (951) 486-6700. Citizens may also submit a tip using the Sheriff’s Homicide Tipline online form. Callers can refer to incident file number MV222310122 and can remain anonymous.
Contact the writer: [email protected]
Trevor Montgomery, 51, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and operates Riverside County News Source (RCNS) and Shasta County News Source (SCNS). Both are stringer organizations, providing breaking news coverage and community interest stories for other mainstream media organizations throughout the two regions they serve.
Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; the Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County; and Mountain Echo in Shasta County. He is also a regular contributor to Thin Blue Line TV and Law Enforcement News Network and has had his stories featured on news stations throughout the Southern California and North State regions.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.