Off-Duty CHP Officer Kills Wife, Self In NorCal Store Parking Lot
MARTELL, Amador County (CBS SF) — An off-duty California Highway Patrol officer fatally shot his wife before turning the gun on himself in the parking lot of a store in Amador County, authorities said.
The Amador County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday deputies responded to a 911 call Monday night from the owner of a Get Ripped Nutrition store in Martell. The man stated he was locked inside his store along with a woman and that her husband was banging on the door, the sheriff's office said.
Deputies arrived at the store as shots were being fired and found 45-year-old off-duty CHP officer Brad Wheat and his wife, 42-year-old Mary Wheat, dead in the parking lot, the office said. Deputies also found the business owner with a gunshot wound to the shoulder.
According to the sheriff's office, the owner and a witness on the scene stated Wheat fired a handgun into the store to gain access, and that the owner was shot inside the business. A struggle ensued between Wheat, his wife and the store owner which spilled out into the parking lot, where Wheat shot his wife several times before shooting himself, the office said.
The store owner was able to flee to safety after the altercation moved to the parking lot; he was airlifted to a hospital for treatment, the sheriff's office said.
