Crime & Safety
Video Released Of Fatal Shooting By Deputies In Murrieta
After leading a police chase, Troy Matthew Sullenger, 41, was killed in the shooting on Jefferson Avenue in Murrieta.
MURRIETA, CA — The Riverside County Sheriff's Department has released video of a deputy-involved shooting earlier this year in Murrieta that left a 41-year-old man dead and prompted hours-long road closures.
The video opens with Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco giving a brief overview of the Jan. 2 morning incident in which Troy Matthew Sullenger led a police chase from French Valley into city limits, ultimately leading to his shooting death in the 23000 block of Jefferson Avenue.
According to Bianco, the incident began at 8:47 a.m. when deputies were called to a home in the 31000 block of Borega Road in French Valley regarding a report of an argument involving an armed man who was possibly under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. When deputies arrived, they spotted the suspect, later identified as Sullenger, driving away in a 1995 white F-350 truck.
With sirens and lights on, deputies tried to get Sullenger to stop, but a chase ensued. The video shows Sullenger temporarily stopping at Pourroy Road and River Rock Court, where deputy-worn body cameras capture some of the communication.
"Turn off the car," a deputy is heard saying to Sullenger. "We know you have a gun. Turn off the car."
Instead of following the commands, Sullenger continues on Pourroy, then onto westbound Murrieta Hot Springs, where he temporarily stops three more times before reaching Winchester Road.
At each stop, deputies attempted to speak to him, according to the sheriff's department video.
One of the interactions was captured on a body camera worn by Corporal Martinez, the video shows. From a distance and behind his police vehicle door with his service rifle drawn, Martinez can be seen and heard telling Sullenger "I gotcha, I'm hearing you."
Sullenger's frantic-sounding words are hard to make out, but Martinez tells him, "I'm listening bro, I'm listening."
Sullenger tells the corporal that he's lost his mom.
"She died," he said. "You're going to have to kill me."
Martinez tries soothing him. "It's the holidays. This type of shit happens ... ."
Sullenger's death message is relayed over police dispatch, and the chase continues on Murrieta Hot Springs to northbound Jefferson Avenue in the city of Murrieta. At this point, the Murrieta Police Department and the California Highway Patrol have joined the pursuit, and, according to the video, deputies confirm that Sullenger is armed with a handgun.
Using a BEARCAT armored vehicle, Murrieta police eventually stop Sullenger's truck in the 23000 block of Jefferson Avenue at Gateway Church of the Nazarene. According to the sheriff's department, deputies requested the heavy tank because the chase had moved to a residential neighborhood.
Video captured from the church shows the BEARCAT ramming the truck and multiple marked and unmarked police vehicles moving in.
A sheriff's helicopter flying over the incident captures the shooting and over the police radio, "Shots fired, shots fired," are heard.
Although body cameras were worn, none of the footage clearly shows the first shots fired by deputies, according to the sheriff's department. Footage from body cameras worn by Martinez and Deputy Ray capture multiple rounds fired at Sullenger, who never made out of his truck.
"Cease fire, cease fire," Martinez is heard saying, while also commanding responding deputies to keep calm.
Sullenger was pronounced dead at the scene. According to the video, the gun he was carrying was a "Hi-Point model-JHP 45ACP handgun."
The Murrieta Police Department has been investigating the shooting because it occurred within city limits, and the Riverside County District Attorney's Office is also reviewing.
PHOTOS FROM THE SCENE: Deadly Murrieta Deputy-Involved Shooting Prompted By Man With Gun
