HUGHSON, Calif. (AP) – A man suspected of shooting a sheriff’s deputy twice in the head in Central California was arrested hours after the killing on Sunday when he tried to steal a woman’s purse, authorities said.
Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Deputy Dennis Wallace was shot at point-blank range as he checked on a report of a suspicious van parked near a fishing access spot outside the city of Hughson, about 10 miles southeast of Modesto, county Sheriff Adam Christianson said.
“We believe that Deputy Wallace was killed outside of the car, and we know for a fact that the gun used in this crime was in direct contact with his head when the trigger was pulled twice,” Christianson told a news conference. “This was an execution.”
Wallace was alone when he came across the van Sunday morning. A dispatcher told him the vehicle was stolen, so he asked for backup. Another deputy found Wallace a short time later. He was taken to a hospital, where he died, the department said.
The suspect, identified as David Machado, 36, fled in the van and carjacked a white Kia sedan in the nearby city of Keyes, police said.