Turlock man, 79, to be booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon
Photo: Stock / Unsplash
Stanislaus County Sheriff’s deputies have arrested a 79-year-old man for his alleged involvement in an officer-involved shooting in unincorporated Denair earlier this month.
The Sheriff’s Office reports that the shooting was the unfortunate end-result of a contentious domestic disturbance call on Saturday, November 8, involving 79-year-old Seo Myong Yang, whose behavior they say had grown increasingly disturbing and erratic as time went by.
The call began without much incident: while deputies hadn’t initially spoken to Yang — who’d reportedly been standing in the road, waving a 2×4, shouting profanities, and not letting cars pass — they instead spoke with his wife, who agreed to help him seek mental health treatment later in the week.
About 25 minutes after law enforcement cleared the scene, they were called back.
When they arrived, deputies found that Yang had gotten behind the wheel of a large Bobcat tractor and was driving it recklessly, ignoring numerous attempts to reason with him and diffuse the situation.
At one point, deputies say, Yang crashed through a fence and entered the roadway, driving the tractor at deputies and even an unsuspecting civilian for no apparent reason. Ultimately, Yang’s increasingly dangerous antagonism of law enforcement necessitated the use of gunfire.
Several shots were fired and deputies immediately rendered medical aid to Yang, whom they say kept antagonizing them and asking them to kill him. As of November 12, Yang remained in the hospital in stable condition, but is expected to survive.
Upon full recovery, he will be booked at the Stanislaus County Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
