The District Attorney’s office announced Thursday that the deputies who shot and killed a Yucca Valley man at a Twentynine Palms Motel more than a year and a half ago were justified in using deadly force. Deputy Christopher Bingham and Deputy Jacob Tiel were called to the Motel 6 on the highway in Twentynine palms about 3:20 a.m. on January 17, 2017, for a report of a man with a gun, The DA’s report states that because the suspect was armed, the deputies knocked on the motel room door with their guns drawn. They then heard a gunshot from inside the room. The motel room’s door opened and Dominic Hodges, 39, started shooting at Deputy Bingham. When both deputies returned fire, Hodges retreated and closed the motel room door. During the ensuing negotiations between the Sheriff’s Deputies and the people inside the room, Tani Garcia, 39, of Yucca Valley emerged from the room and said Hodges had been shot but was still alive. She said she and Hodges had been smoking methamphetamine and had checked into the Motel because the they thought someone was stalking them and was going to kill them. Several hours after the shooting, the SWAT sent a robot into the room and Dominic Hodges was located inside the room dead from a gunshot to the chest and groin. A loaded 9mm Taurus handgun was near him and two loaded magazines were in his pocket. A toxicology report found evidence of amphetamines and other drugs in his system. Less than a week later, Tani Garcia died at Desert hospital in Palm Springs after she reportedly had trouble breathing.
