Deputies were justified in shooting of man who held wife hostage, Stanislaus DA says
Four Sheriff’s Department SWAT team members who last year fatally shot a man who held his wife hostage for more than a day were justified in their actions, the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
Detectives David Corder Jr., Brock Dias, Phillip Harris and Daniel Hutsell fired at 52-year-old Stephen Murray on July 17 as he began to place a gun against the hostage’s head and threatened to “blow her brains out,” the DA said.
The incident began the day before when deputies went to Murray’s west Modesto home because he was wanted for auto theft, according to a letter from the DA’s Office.
When deputies knocked on his door, a voice from inside yelled, “Come get me. I’m not coming out, someone’s going to die today. ... You’d better not come in here, I have a hostage,” according to the letter.
A decision was made to have the deputies back off so as to not provoke the suspect. A hostage negotiator later contacted Murray on his cell phone.
“The negotiator talked to the hostage (Murray’s wife) and established she was okay and confirmed that Murray had a gun,” according to the letter. “Murray made threats stating, ‘Don’t think just because she is my wife that I won’t kill her.’”
The next day, Murray left the house with his wife in the stolen vehicle but deputies tracked and followed it, the DA said.
The SWAT team was ready when law enforcement remotely disabled the vehicle and Murray left on foot with his wife, according to the letter.
The team followed him for a little over a block to Vine and South Madison streets.
As the deputies approached, Murray grabbed the victim by the neck, then threatened to shoot his wife as he moved the gun toward her head, the DA said.
“As trained, the deputies moved rapidly towards Murray to close the gap and then shot him to prevent him from shooting the hostage,” according to the letter.
The gun was later determined to be a replica of a semiautomatic handgun, but neither the deputies not the hostage could tell it was not real.
“By the time of the shooting, the SWAT team was aware that Murray was armed, was holding a hostage, was a convicted felon and had a warrant for his arrest,” reads the letter. “It was imminently reasonable for a well-trained SWAT deputy to believe he had probable cause under these circumstances to stop Murray from shooting his hostage.”
This story was originally published May 1, 2020 at 1:10 PM.
