Former Stanislaus candidate wanted in Hughson shooting is arrested in Nevada
A man wanted for attempted murder in a domestic incident in Hughson was arrested last week in Carson City, Nevada, following a multi-agency search and drone-assisted surveillance, authorities said.
Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched around 1 p.m. May 28 to the 2000 block of Second Street in Hughson for reports of a man brandishing a shotgun, according to a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, Sgt. Nate Crain. The suspect, identified as Troy Wayne McComak, 40, fled the scene before deputies arrived. McComak more than a decade ago was a candidate for Patterson mayor and California’s 10th Congressional District.
At the scene May 28, deputies learned McComak became enraged after a court hearing earlier that day involving a prior domestic violence case, which started in March, Crain said. He allegedly retrieved a handgun, a shotgun and a so-called plate carrier — body armor designed to protect against gunfire — and then attempted to strike one person and brandished the shotgun while chambering a round.
McComak is also believed to have forcibly taken the phone from a person who tried to dial 911, according to the Sheriff’s Office. A second person told deputies that McComak had been trying to prevent her from testifying in court and had threatened to kill her if she contacted law enforcement or kill anyone who interfered. During the Hughson incident, no one was injured, authorities said.
At around 10 a.m. Friday, May 30, nearly two days after McComak fled the scene, a license plate reader flagged his 2009 Saturn sedan with California plates in Carson City, Nevada, almost 200 miles east of Hughson. The Carson City Sheriff’s Office posted on social media that its Real-Time Information Center coordinated with the Nevada Department of Investigation’s Tri-County Narcotics Task Force to locate the vehicle in North Carson City.
Authorities used a drone to monitor McComak as he left the home where he was staying. Detectives moved in and arrested him without incident.
McComak was booked into the Carson City Detention Center on a $500,000 bond. He is being held as a fugitive from justice and is expected to be extradited to California, where he faces the following charges:
Attempted murder
Violation of a domestic violence restraining order
Preventing or dissuading a witness
Obstructing communication with emergency services
Assault with a firearm
Criminal threats
Brandishing a firearm.
“He was located and taken into custody in Carson City and is currently awaiting extradition back to Stanislaus County, where the case will be reviewed by the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office,” Crain said Thursday. “The district attorney will decide how the case will proceed.”
Stanislaus Superior Court records show McComak had an open criminal case here at the time of last week’s arrest. In March, he was charged with battery on a spouse or cohabitant, assault likely to produce great bodily injury, and false imprisonment. The case remains active.
McComak’s political activity in Stanislaus County
McComak has a public history in the Northern San Joaquin Valley, including previous campaigns for office. In 2012, he ran as an independent candidate for California’s 10th Congressional District and also for mayor of Patterson; he was unsuccessful in both races.
According to past reporting by the Patterson Irrigator, McComak worked as a substitute teacher with Patterson Joint Unified School District from 2008 through the 2009-10 school year. His teaching credential was automatically suspended in 2010 after he was charged with multiple felonies, including sexual battery. The charges were later dismissed, but the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing revoked his credential in 2015 for unprofessional conduct and “evident unfitness for service,” citing the California education code.
In response to the revocation, McComak told the Patterson Irrigator at the time that he was falsely accused and described the state’s actions as politically motivated, saying, “Given the failed state of our public school systems, it would make sense that they would attack their best teachers ... .”
Despite losing his credential, McComak said in 2015 that he continued to work in education through Patterson Tutoring Services, a company he owned with his wife.
McComak, who holds degrees from Modesto Junior College, California State University, Stanislaus, and Grand Canyon University, regularly expressed his views online on a range of topics. In a January 2023 post Twitter, he wrote: “What purpose does it serve to educate an inmate? Why teach someone something when they could be doing hard labor. Learning should be only allowed by free people, not those convicts who need to learn the hard lessons on how not to break laws ... .”
This story was originally published June 5, 2025 at 11:13 AM.
