Deputies identify victims and suspect in gruesome San Juan Capistrano killings

41-year-old man accused of decapitating parents and family dog in San Juan Capistrano

Orange County deputies on Wednesday identified the man accused of decapitating his mother, father and the family's chihuahua in San Juan Capistrano Tuesday morning. 

Joseph Brandon Gerdvil, 41, has been booked on two counts of homicide. The Orange County Sheriff's Department said the charges and enhancements are likely to change before the conclusion of the investigation. 

The killing happened at about 7:30 a.m. in the 32000 block of Alipaz Street, located in the San Juan Mobile Estates complex. Deputies initially responded to the scene after several reports of a domestic assault. When they arrived, they found the bodies of the suspect's mother and father, 79-year-old Antoinette Gerdvil and 77-year-old Ronald Walter Gerdvil, and the couple's chihuahua.

While they were investigating the gruesome scene, deputies received a call at about 7:42 a.m. that a man covered in blood was chasing a maintenance worker nearby. 

"Our dispatchers updated them that there was a bloody male chasing a maintenance worker in that same neighborhood," Orange County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Matthew Parrish on Tuesday. "The deputies immediately started looking for that male. A short time later that person was located near Calle Arroyo and a bike trail, shortly after that person was located an officer-involved shooting occurred."

Deputies and paramedics from the Orange County Fire Authority treated Joseph Gerdvil before taking him to the hospital. He remains in stable condition. 

He will be booked into jail once he is released. 

Investigators urged anyone with information on the killings to call the department at (714) 647-7000. Anonymous tips can be submitted to the Orange County Crime Stoppers website or by calling (855) 847-6227.

Anyone with information on the deputy shooting should call the Orange County District Attorney's Office at (714) 834-3600.

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