Modesto standoff suspect dead of self-inflicted gunshot wound, homicide victim identified
More than nine hours after a man was fatally shot in central Modesto, a standoff between police and the suspect ended late Sunday night with the alleged killer shooting himself.
Police identified the victim in the initial shooting as Michael “Jesse” Sullivan, 31, of Modesto.
They identified the suspect as 40-year-old Daniel Riggs of Modesto. He shot himself at about 11:30 p.m., police said in a news release Monday morning. “He was transported to a local hospital, but did not survive.” Two young children and a woman in the home with Riggs were not harmed, authorities said.
A neighbor across the street from Riggs and Sullivan, who apparently were next-door neighbors, said she was in her backyard when she heard what sounded like gunshots. She said she looked outside her front door and saw the man later identified as Riggs walking “briskly” toward the house at 2901 Debbie Lane, where he then kept responding law enforcement officers at bay well into the night.
The incident began shortly after 2 p.m. with a report of a person shot during a dispute between neighbors on Debbie Lane, on the west side of Tully Road, near Davis High School.
Responding police officers found Sullivan suffering a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital, where he died. A Police Department spokeswoman on Monday morning did not have information on whether the shooting took place inside or out.
Sullivan’s wife and three children were not home at the time of the shooting, his father-in-law told The Bee on Monday morning.
After the shooting, Riggs retreated to his house, at the corner of Debbie Lane and Dalton Way, where police officers and Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputies were able to contain him.
Both law enforcement departments quickly had a large presence at the scene, which grew during the afternoon as additional police, fire and EMS personnel arrived, including SWAT teams and an American Medical Response tactical rescue unit.
A sheriff’s deputy said the homes nearest the standoff were being evacuated, and other residents of the street were being asked to go indoors and stay there.
Outside the taped-off perimeter, at least dozens of people were watching the standoff developments. Some families brought children to watch, and a few times officers had to ask spectators to back out of areas in which they could have been in harm’s way.
At one point, officers pried boards off the fence at Riggs’ home. They did not enter the yard, though, backing away from it instead.
At that same corner, an officer standing in the top hatch of a SWAT truck kept his rifle trained on the suspect house. A few K9s were taken in and out of their partners’ vehicles during the hot afternoon, when the temperature peaked at 96 degrees.
At least one drone aircraft was launched to capture images of the home where the suspect was.
After 7:30 p.m., police Lt. Felton Payne told The Bee that officers could see Riggs inside a home with a woman. He said he did not know at that time whether anyone else, adult or children, was inside.
The MPD news release says officers with its Crisis Negotiations Team and SWAT Team communicated with Riggs for about nine hours in hopes of a peaceful surrender. During the negotiations, the woman and two children remained in the home.
“This is an incredibly sad incident,” the news release says. “Our hearts go out to the families impacted by this tragic event.”
This story was originally published July 11, 2022 at 6:48 AM.
