Sacramento shooter's motives, background a mystery, authorities say

By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO Calif. (Reuters) - A man accused of killing two sheriff's deputies in a bloody shooting spree through two northern California counties is a figure of some mystery, with several aliases and a history of deportation and drug crime, authorities said on Monday. Booked into the Sacramento County jail as Marcelo Marquez, 34, the man believed to have shot and killed deputies Danny Oliver and Michael David Davis, Jr., is also known to federal authorities as Luis Enrique Monroy-Bracamonte, a Mexican national, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Sacramento Sheriff's Department, which is handling the case, had not yet determined their suspect's real name or figured out why he came to Sacramento, opening fire on Oliver as the officer approached a car in a motel parking in Sacramento where the suspect sat with his wife, who is also a suspect, spokeswoman Lisa Bowman said. He will appear in court on Tuesday under the name of Marquez to be formally charged with murder, attempted murder and carjacking, Bowman said. His wife, Janelle Marquez Monroy, will also appear in court Tuesday, to be charged with attempted murder and carjacking, she said. The alleged shooter was deported to Mexico twice as Monroy-Bracamonte, in 1997 for a narcotics charge in Arizona, and in 2001 for an unspecified charge, ICE said. Marquez' alleged rampage stretched from Sacramento to the town of Auburn about 35 miles (56 km) away, prompting a massive, multi-agency police response and forcing the lockdown of schools and businesses. The incident began in the parking lot of a Motel 6, when veteran Sacramento Deputy Danny Oliver, 47, approached a vehicle considered to be suspicious, said Sacramento County Sheriff Lieutenant R.L. Davis. Someone inside the car fired multiple rounds at Oliver, who later died in hospital. Marquez and Monroy then carjacked a motorist, shooting him in the head when he resisted, authorities said. The victim, Anthony Holmes, 38, was recovering in hospital. The pair then stole a third vehicle, a Ford pickup truck, and crossed into neighboring Placer County, shooting two sheriff's deputies there, Davis said. One of the deputies, 42-year-old Michael David Davis Jr., died, 26 years to the day after his father was killed while on duty as a sheriff's deputy in Southern California, officials said. (Editing by Eric Walsh)