California deputy shot, killed; 4th officer killed in 2 weeks

ALTURAS, Calif.— A deputy responding to a disturbance call in Northern California has been shot to death — the state’s fourth law enforcement officer to die in the line of duty in just two weeks.

Sheriff’s deputies were dealing with the report on County Road 115, in a rural area near the Oregon border, when deputy Jack Hopkins, 31, was fatally shot. A suspect was detained shortly after, the sheriff’s office said.

Hopkins joined the force last year, the office said.

A video posted late Wednesday to the Modoc County Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook page showed about two dozen patrol cars with their emergency lights on riding down a town’s street. The video was titled “Deputy Jack Hopkins Procession.”

The Shasta, Siskiyou, Lassen and Butte County Sheriff’s Offices and the California Highway Patrol are investigating the shooting, the office said.

The California Highway Patrol, the Alturas Police Department and the U.S. Forest Service responded to the scene after a call about an officer-involved shooting went out, the office said.

The Modoc County Sheriff’s Office said earlier in a brief statement the deputy was involved in an active-shooter incident. It didn’t release any other details.

The deputy’s shooting death comes after two Palm Springs police officers were recently shot and killed during a domestic disturbance call and a Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant was gunned down in the high desert town of Lancaster while answering a burglary call.