2 guns used, 14 more found in Rancho Cordova home where murder-suicide killed 4
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Sacramento County sheriff’s investigators found 16 guns at the site of a murder-suicide.
- Sheriff’s officials said David Vallerga used two pistols to commit the murder-suicide.
- It’s believed Vallerga shot his wife and their two children before shooting himself.
Investigators found 16 guns including two pistols believed to have been used by a man who fatally shot his wife and their two children, then turned the gun on himself, in a murder-suicide inside the family’s Rancho Cordova home.
Detectives determined that David Vallerga, 58, committed Tuesday’s murder-suicide, killing a 49-year-old woman, a 13-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday evening in a news release.
The news release marked the first time sheriff’s officials identified the gunman found dead in the two-story home in the 5400 block of Mill Water Circle in Rancho Cordova.
The names of the woman and two children killed have not been released by authorities, and sheriff’s officials have not confirmed how those found dead inside the home were related.
But information from neighbors and friends, along with public records and a planned memorial event have indicated that Vallerga’s wife, Lindsey Peralta Vallerga, and their two children were the three others found dead.
Rancho Cordova police officers, who are sheriff’s deputies assigned to provide contracted police services in the Sacramento County suburb, responded to reports of shots fired shortly after 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Mill Water Circle home in the Kavala Ranch housing development.
A neighbor reported hearing what sounded like gunshots and screaming. A few minutes later, a man, later identified as David Vallerga, called 911. Sheriff’s officials said Vallerga gave a dispatcher his home address and said he was “the shooter” and that he had installed “booby traps” inside the home.
Officers surrounded the two-story house and evacuated nearby residents after they heard what they believed was a single gunshot. Sheriff’s officials said they confirmed Vallerga had previous military experience and possessed numerous firearms.
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The sheriff’s SWAT team deployed two armored vehicles and called out for anyone inside the home to come out. Officers obtained a search warrant to enter the home. After receiving no response from inside the home, the SWAT team deployed a smaller armored vehicle known as a Rook to break down a side fence and enter the home through a sliding glass door.
Sheriff’s officials then sent an aerial drone into the home, and the drone’s camera was used to spot David Vallerga inside. Sheriff’s officials said the man was unresponsive and holding a pistol in his right hand.
The SWAT team then immediately entered the home and found the woman and the two children. Authorities found all four dead with gunshot wounds.
The Sheriff’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team searched the home and did not find any explosives or “booby traps” as Vallerga reportedly said during the 911 call.
Sheriff’s officials said investigators found a second pistol beneath David Vallerga’s body. They also found shell casings of two different calibers that matched the two pistols believed to have been used in the murder-suicide.
Investigators also confiscated 14 additional firearms found in the home. Sheriff’s officials said sheriff’s homicide detectives were still trying to determine a motive for the murder-suicide.
