{"id":262791,"date":"2026-04-11T16:05:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T16:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/262791\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T16:05:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T16:05:40","slug":"man-who-killed-ca-deputy-had-a-history-of-financial-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/262791\/","title":{"rendered":"Man who killed CA deputy had a history of financial problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

The man who shot and killed a Tulare County deputy<\/a> in an eviction standoff Thursday had no criminal record, though declared bankruptcy multiples times, according to public records.<\/p>\n

David Eric Morales, 59, shot and killed Tulare County Sheriff\u2019s Deputy Randy Hoppert<\/a>, 35, following an eviction attempt, Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said. Deputies in a Kern County BearCat, a military-style vehicle often used by SWAT, purposely drove over Morales in northern Porterville as he lay prone and armed while in camouflage attire.<\/p>\n

Morales had continued to evade deputies while firing at them with a high-powered rifle in the area near Newcomb Street and Grand Avenue, the sheriff said. Deputies did not fire any rounds during the ordeal that lasted about six hours, Boudreaux said.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s killing jolted the region and has left authorities questioning how an eviction notice turned fatal given Morales had no prior criminal history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes no sense. He\u2019s not wanted for anything,\u201d Boudreaux said. \u201cWhich beckons, does he have a mental health issue? Was he just becoming violent for unknown \u2014 we don\u2019t know. We may never know the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

What led to the killing of Tulare County deputy?<\/p>\n

Deputies arrived to serve an eviction notice to Morales about 10:20 a.m. Thursday before hearing gunfire, the Sheriff\u2019s Office has said. The deputy who was killed after responding to a shots-fired call in the area was Randy Hoppert, 35, the grandson of former Tulare County Undersheriff Doyle Hoppert.<\/p>\n

Public records show Morales lived most recently at 1713 Brian Avenue in Porterville, which is less than a half-mile from the Newcomb and Grand intersection. He had defaulted on the loan and the foreclosure was filed Oct. 30, according to public records.<\/p>\n

Morales also had three previous bankruptcies with the most recent in 2017, according to records. Morales did not have any criminal record, Boudreaux said.<\/p>\n

The Sheriff\u2019s Office said Morales was able to evade arrest by moving back and forth between three homes and brush in the area while wearing camouflage.<\/p>\n

Eighteen handguns were legally registered to Morales, Boudreaux said, but he did not legally own any rifles like the one used against deputies.<\/p>\n

Boudreaux said Morales continued to fire throughout the ordeal, striking a drone and at least three SWAT vehicles, including one from Visalia.<\/p>\n

At one point during a news conference on Thursday, Boudreaux answered a cellphone call from the undersheriff who was sharing that Morales was dead. The sheriff confirmed that in a later news conference.<\/p>\n

Boudreaux said Fresno police assisted by speaking to the family members of Morales, who made contact with him during the eviction standoff with Tulare County deputies. According to Boudreaux, family members told Fresno police that Morales had said he was intent on carrying out the act of violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t really reveal as to what he said, but basically he said he\u2019s going down in a blaze of glory, and he ain\u2019t going down peacefully,\u201d Boudreaux said of Morales on Thursday. \u201cHe made that very well-known in his messaging that we received from the Fresno Police Department.\u201d<\/p>\n

The evidence gathering in the area would likely take three days, Boudreaux said.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Thaddeus Miller<\/a><\/p>\n

Merced Sun-Star<\/p>\n

Reporter Thaddeus Miller has covered cities in the central San Joaquin Valley since 2010, writing about everything from breaking news to government and police accountability. A native of Fresno, he joined The Fresno Bee in 2019 after time in Merced and Los Banos.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The man who shot and killed a Tulare County deputy in an eviction standoff Thursday had no criminal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-262791","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}