High desert man was shot by San Bernardino deputies after Sunday chase
The identity of the man who was shot and killed Sunday by sheriff’s deputies who had chased him from Yucca Valley nearly to Whitewater was released Tuesday.
Antonio Garza, 44, was shot and killed by deputies from San Bernardino County.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, which is investigating the shooting, listed Garza’s residence as Joshua Tree, which matches with public records online. The San Bernardino County sheriff said he lived in Yucca Valley.
Deputies first came across Garza while investigating a box trailer that had caught fire northeast of Yucca Valley near the intersection of Indio Avenue and Canterbury Street, according to a San Bernardino sheriff’s press release published Monday, over 24 hours after Garza was shot. They first responded at 10:12 a.m., according to the release.
Believing Garza had started the fire, deputies tried to speak with him. Instead, the San Bernardino sheriff said, he fled in a vehicle and deputies pursued.
The deputies pursued Garza for 35 minutes to the Whitewater cutoff, just north of Interstate 10, which is where the San Bernardino sheriff said Garza attempted to drive off the interstate and his vehicle became disabled. One or more deputies then shot at Garza, hitting and killing him.
A Riverside County coroner's news release states that Garza died "in an open field on the south shoulder of the Whitewater cutoff."
In February 2021, Garza was charged with assaulting police or firefighters with a deadly weapon that was not a firearm, according to court records. Radio station Z107.7 reported that Garza was arrested for "driving at deputies in an aggressive manner" when they tried to talk to him in Joshua Tree. He pled not guilty later that year. The case was ongoing, with the next court date scheduled for next month.
The aftermath of the shooting caused multiple westbound lanes on Interstate 10 to be closed for at least six hours Sunday, causing westbound traffic to crawl to a near standstill.
On Monday, the Riverside County coroner also posted a release stating that a 63-year-old man from Long Beach died at the westbound Whitewater rest area at 3:33 p.m. on Sunday. The posting did not state how that man died. Such postings are typically made after unattended or violent deaths and do not usually include the cause of death.
However, a man who identified himself as the man's son told The Desert Sun Monday night that his father died of a heart attack when he got out to use the restroom.
Paul Albani-Burgio covers breaking news and the City of Palm Springs. Follow him on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and via email at paul.albani-burgio@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: High Desert man was shot by San Bernardino deputies after Sunday chase
