{"id":324925,"date":"2026-05-20T18:38:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/324925\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T18:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:38:13","slug":"kcso-releases-body-cam-video-of-death-of-suspect-who-killed-tcso-detective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/324925\/","title":{"rendered":"KCSO releases body-cam video of death of suspect who killed TCSO detective"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The Kern County Sheriff’s Office released body-cam footage on Tuesday of the incident that led to the death of the suspect who shot and killed Tulare County Sheriff’s Office detective Randy Hoppert in April<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement was involved in a stand-off with Morales for several hours.<\/p>\n

The BearCat used in the incident was provided by the Kern County Sheriff’s Office. Eric Morales, 59, shot at the BearCat, striking it, said deputies.<\/p>\n

Subsequently, the BearCat ran over and killed Morales after he shot at the vehicle, according to the footage provided.<\/p>\n

KCSO deputy Chad Clark was placed on routine critical incident leave pending the completion of the investigation, said the Kern County Sheriff’s Office.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/p>\n

Photo: Kern County Sheriff’s Office<\/p>\n

Suspect David Eric Morales shot and killed TCSO detective Randy Hoppert, said the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office.<\/p>\n

WARNING: FOOTAGE SHOWS VIOLENCE AND THE DEATH OF A SUSPECT. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.<\/p>\n

The incident stemmed from earlier in the day, when on April 9, 2026, at around 10:20 a.m. near Newcomb Street and Grand Avenue, deputies attempted to serve an eviction notice to 59-year-old David Eric Morales.<\/p>\n

Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said. Boudreaux said Morales had been notified about a month earlier that he would need to leave his home.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/p>\n

Photo: Kern County Sheriff’s Office<\/p>\n

Authorities said Morales opened fire with a rifle, prompting an officer-involved shooting and a large response from multiple agencies, including Porterville police, Visalia police and the California Highway Patrol.<\/p>\n

During the chaos, Tulare County Detective Randy Hoppert was shot. He was taken to a local hospital, where he later died. Hoppert leaves behind his wife and a four-month-old baby.<\/p>\n

The Kern County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the deadly use of force in the incident<\/a>. It will be submitted to the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office for review.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/p>\n

Photo: Kern County Sheriff’s Office<\/p>\n

On May 12, 2026, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office convened an Incident Review Board to examine the use of force in the incident.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/p>\n

Photo: Kern County Sheriff’s Office<\/p>\n

The board determined the use of force was within department policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The Kern County Sheriff’s Office released body-cam footage on Tuesday of the incident that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-324925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324925","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=324925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}