Tahoma man convicted of murdering girlfriend, killing dog with shotgun
A Tahoma man was convicted Wednesday of multiple charges including first-degree murder in the 2018 shooting deaths of his girlfriend and their dog.
Jeremy Virgo was found guilty by a jury Wednesday of the first-degree murder of Deborah Patton, assault with a deadly weapon on a responding officer, animal cruelty and firearms possession after he shot both Patton and the couple’s dog multiple times with a shotgun. Virgo is set to be sentenced Nov. 18.
The shooting happened Feb. 11, 2018, inside the couple’s home in Tahoma, near Lake Tahoe, where El Dorado County Sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of shots fired. The first responding officers heard more gunshots, according to a news release Thursday by the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office, and Virgo then fled the scene in an SUV, leading to a high-speed pursuit.
Deputies then took Virgo into custody at Homewood Mountain Resort, the news release said.
Virgo told officers in an interview that he had an argument with Patton that morning, then retrieved a 12-gauge shotgun from a closet and shot Patton multiple times as she tried to escape the home.
