Marvin Morales, a former California sheriff's deputy was shot and killed by the Elk Grove police on Tuesday. Law enforcement officers suspected him of stabbing his son and opened fire after the former deputy led them on a car chase.
At least two Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies were involved in the shooting on Tuesday, as per Fox 12. Elk Grove police told the outlet that one of their officers were also involved and added that no law enforcement official was injured in the process. Morales resigned from his job last year after a drug overdose.
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While the shooting remains under investigation, here's everything to know about Marvin Morales.
5 things to know about Marvin Morales
- Cops suspected Morales of stabbing his 11-year-old son. The boy's mother called the cops saying she was concerned about the safety of her two children after seeing security footage of the father assaulting the boy. Cops found him with stab wounds and the boy later died in the hospital. His six-year-old sister was not harmed.
- Morales led the cops on a chase along Interstate 5 after fleeing the scene. Ultimately, the vehicle crashed near Lodi with help of a spike strip deployed by the California Highway Patrol.
- The suspect was shot by officials after the crash, but it isn't yet known if he fired at law enforcement. Morales died in the hospital and officials said that the gun safe at his house was found empty, as per local media reports.
- Morales, 40, was a Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy. He resigned from his job in February 2024 after he was caught using illicit drugs. Morales, who was a patrol deputy, turned in his papers almost a month after Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office had informed him that internal affairs investigators recommended he be fired on grounds of dishonesty. At the time, he'd reportedly said he struggled with mental health.
What to know about Marvin Morales overdose?
Morales had obtained the drugs, which were later determined ton contain fentanyl, when he stopped a man in October 2023, at a Shell gas station on Stockton Boulevard, as per The Sacramento Bee. The man had told Morales he was smoking methamphetamine.
{{/usCountry}}Morales had obtained the drugs, which were later determined ton contain fentanyl, when he stopped a man in October 2023, at a Shell gas station on Stockton Boulevard, as per The Sacramento Bee. The man had told Morales he was smoking methamphetamine.
{{/usCountry}}Morales told investigators that he'd interacted with the man before and knew he took drugs. He added that the drugs appeared ‘dirty’ which led him to believe they might be mixed with fentanyl. The deputy also admitted to taking the drugs from him and smoking them in a bathroom later that day in the sheriff's Central Division station on 65th Street and Florin Road.
Other deputies had found him overdosing in the bathroom and administered naloxone to try and reverse the situation. He survived and was taken to the hospital. Morales had reportedly told investigators he took the drug as he wanted to die by suicide and had said he struggled with mental health. During the investigation, IA found from drug test of his hair that Morales appeared to be a ‘chronic user’ or someone who'd used drugs throughout their life.
Morales had said that his mental health had been deteriorating from trauma he suffered while on the job and when he was serving in the Middle East. He reportedly would cry before coming in for work and had isolated himself from his family, the publication further noted.