Friday, December 11, 2009

Murder Attempt At the Pechanga Casino; Police Officer Wounded

The Pechanga Casino in Temecula was the site of an attempted murder on a peace officer. Pechanga is well known for terminating 25% of their tribe and for shutting down their venues Silk and Eagle's Nest due to "alcohol related problems"

This incident is unrelated to those other issues

James Francis Deck, 43, was scheduled to be arraigned later today. He was being held without bail. In addition to attempted murder, Deck is also charged with assault on a peace officer, obstruction, resisting an officer causing great bodily injury and assault on a peace officer with an automatic weapon.

Deck was hospitalized overnight and then booked into the county jail.

The alleged attack occurred about 10:10 p.m. Tuesday in the parking lot of the Pechanga Casino on Pechanga Parkway.

A deputy had tried to stop a truck for a vehicle code violation but the driver pulled into the casino's parking structure, according to sheriff's Lt. Scott Madden.

The driver abruptly stopped the truck and ran, but as the deputy chased the suspect, he turned and charged at the deputy, knocking him down.

The deputy hit his head, Madden said.

The suspect jumped the deputy and beat him, telling him he was going to kill him while trying to get his gun, Madden said.

A passerby helped by jumping on the suspect's back and assisted in keeping the suspect from getting full control of the gun, Madden said.

"Despite the deputy's pleas for help, several additional bystanders refused to aid him and walked away, leaving the deputy and now good Samaritan to continue the struggle with the suspect, Madden said.

A Pechanga employee called security and the suspect was subdued, Madden said.
The deputy was treated at a hospital and released the following morning, Madden said.

A passenger in the truck ran away and was still at large, Madden said.


Pechanga was the site of a armed carjacking last year.

1 comment:

'aamokat said...

I hope this man is proscecuted to the full extent of the law and that he gets many years of prison time for this offense.

We don't need violent people like him roaming our streets.

My prayers go out to the officer and his family and I hope he has a speedy recovery.

Many kudos to the bystander who came to his aid.

To the others who just walked away, I hope at least one of them alerted the employee who called security to come to the officer's aid.

While the bystanders can't be expected to subdue an armed suspect, let's hope that they weren't too consumed with getting on with their gambling to at least call for help.

After all, they would want someone to help them if they were in the officer's position.