Sacramento County sheriff’s officials have determined that the deaths of four people — including two children — inside a Rancho Cordova home earlier this week were the result of a murder-suicide, following an extensive investigation and hours-long tactical response, the department announced Tuesday.
According to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, investigators believe a father fatally shot three family members before taking his own life inside a residence on the 5400 block of Mill Water Circle in Rancho Cordova. The victims include a 49-year-old woman, a 13-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl. All four were found deceased from apparent gunshot wounds.
The incident began just after 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 27, when deputies were dispatched to reports of possible gunshots in the neighborhood after a neighbor reported hearing what sounded like gunfire and screaming.
“Less than five minutes later, our comm center received a second 911 call, this one from male subject identifying himself as the shooter and also stating that he had set booby trap devices at the location,” Sgt. Edward Igoe said.
Deputies arriving on scene established a perimeter and determined the man at the residence had multiple firearms registered in his name along with prior military service. Based on the potential threat, authorities began evacuating nearby homes and attempted to call out any occupants from outside the residence.
The Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Detail, including SWAT team members, responded with two armored BearCat vehicles as the standoff continued. After receiving no response from inside the home and obtaining a search warrant, deputies deployed a smaller armored vehicle known as the Rook to breach a rear fence and enter through a sliding glass door.
“At that point, our drone team was able to launch a drone and fly it into the residence where they discovered one man unresponsive with a handgun in his right hand,” Igoe said.
Concerned there may be additional victims inside, deputies entered the home.
“Fearing for any other occupants in the residence, our SCD team immediately launched inside and unfortunately located a female victim as well as two juveniles, one male, one female,” Igoe said.
All four individuals were pronounced dead at the scene from apparent gunshot wounds.
Due to earlier claims about booby traps, the Sheriff’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal team cleared the residence and confirmed no explosive devices were present. Homicide detectives and crime scene investigators then processed the scene, recovered evidence, and interviewed witnesses.
Through the investigation, detectives identified the father as the shooter.
“Through the course of our investigation, it was determined that, the father, David Valerga, was, the shooter, and this was a murder suicide, unfortunately,” Igoe said.
Investigators recovered multiple shell casings from two different calibers that were matched to firearms found in the residence. A second handgun was located beneath the suspect’s body, and approximately 14 additional firearms were seized from inside the home.
The victims were later identified by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office on Friday as 49-year-old Lindsey Burger, 13-year-old Colton Peralta Vallerga and 11-year-old Sydney Peralta Vallerga.
Detectives said the investigation remains active as they continue working to determine a motive.
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