Shooting at Home Depot in Ceres leads to standoff, rooftop arrest in Turlock
Ceres Police on Sunday detained a suspect on the roof of a home in Turlock after a shooting at the Home Depot in Ceres.
Edward Lopez, 45, of Turlock, is accused of shooting at a loss prevention agent at Home Depot as he and another man tried to steal a tote loaded with about $500 worth of merchandise, said Ceres Police Sgt. Greg Yotsuya. The loss prevention agent was not hit.
The incident began shortly after noon on Sunday when loss prevention agents observed two men, who allegedly had stolen from the store previously, load the tote with power tools and clothing.
A loss prevention agent confronted the suspects as they left the store through a fire exit, telling them to drop the tote, according to Yotsuya.
“As the suspect carrying the tote dropped it, the other suspect yelled ‘Get back’ as he produced a handgun and fired in the direction of the loss prevention agent,” according to a press release. Yotsuya said the victim and suspect were about 10 to 20 feet apart when the shooting occurred.
The suspects got into a tan Chevrolet Impala, driven by a third suspect, and drove toward Highway 99.
Officers converged on the area and began looking for the vehicle and suspects. They ran the license plate number of the Impala and found it was registered to a home in the 900 block of East Linwood Avenue in Turlock, Yotsuya said.
Officers went to the home where they found the vehicle parked out front.
They surrounded the home but, “due to the propensity for violence” and the layout of the home, both SWAT teams for Ceres and the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department were called in.
Soon after the SWAT teams surrounded the home around 3:20 p.m., officers spotted a man on the roof. He was later identified as Lopez.
They ordered him to lie down on his stomach until officers got onto the roof to detain him. Yotsuya said a loaded gun found in his waistband is believed to be the gun fired at the loss prevention agent.
Offices used a loudspeaker to call out other occupants of the house. One at a time, over the course of several hours, six more people came out of the home. All were detained but later released as none were the other suspects in the crime.
When people stopped coming out, officers fired gas inside the home before entering to ensure no one else was there.
Lopez was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, robbery, and being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm. He also had several unrelated warrants.
Investigators are still working the case to identify the other male that was involved in the robbery as well as the getaway driver of the Chevy Impala.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Detective Matt Berlier at 209-538-5616 or Crime Stoppers at 209-521-4636.
This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 1:10 PM.
