EDCSO Deputy shot and killed after responding to theft call at grow site
Photo: Deputy Brian Ishmael
EL DORADO – A deputy with the El Dorado Connty Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed and three men have been arrested in connection with the crime.
On Wednesday October 23 a call came into the EDCSO about a theft occurring at a marijuana grow site in the Somerset area.
honoring Deputy Ishmael
Deputy Brian Ishmael responded to the location on Sand Ridge Road in Somerset after a 911 call from Christopher Ross, the property owner. As it turns out, an off-duty San Joaquin County deputy was with Ishmael on a ride-along.
What Ross failed to mention in his 911 call is that the two supposed thieves stealing from him were his business partners, known to him and that he had a dispute with them.
The arriving deputies, he encountered a subject with a gun. The 37-year-old Ishmael was shot, struck above his bullet-proof vest. The deputy on ride-along was also shot in the thigh and survived.
SWAT and other deputies arrived, surrounded the location, and later made the arrests of 20-year-old gunman Juan Carlos Vasquez Orozco and 22-year-old Ramiro Bravo Morales. Orozco had surgery for gunshot wounds and is expected to be charged for suspicion of murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Morales is charged with being an accessory with a bail of $250,000. The pair are Mexican citizens.
Orozco, Morales and Ross
The property owner, 47-year-old Christopher Gary Ross, was also later arrested and faces charges of involuntary manslaughter.
Brian Ishmael leaves a wife and three daughters behind. He had served for 4 years with the EDCSO.
