The coroner has now identified the Yucca Valley man killed Tuesday at a Twentynine Palms Motel after an exchange of gunfire with two deputies. A Sheriff’s press release said shortly before 3:30 a.m., deputies responded to Motel 6 to investigate a call about a man with a gun from a guest at the motel. After searching the area, deputies couldn’t find the reported armed man so they went to the guest’s room and knocked on the door. A gun was shot from inside the motel room and the door flung open, exposing the gunman, Dominic Hodges, 39, of Yucca Valley. There was an exchange of gunfire with Hodges and two deputies before Hodges slammed the door shut. Deputies ordered Hodges to come out with his hands up; he didn’t respond. During negotiations, Tani Garcia, 39, of Yucca Valley, came out of the room and was detained by deputies. Garcia told deputies she and Hodges had been awake for days after smoking methamphetamine before checking into the motel a few hours earlier. She said they feared they were being followed by people who wanted to kill them. She told deputies Hodges was wounded but still alive. SWAT sent a robot with a camera into the room and Dominic Hodges was located inside the room dead. Deputies found a loaded Taurus 9 mm handgun near Hodges and two loaded magazines in his pants pocket. It was not immediately clear if the man took his own life or if he died after being struck by a deputy’s bullet. The Riverside County Coroner’s office will conduct an autopsy. Garcia was booked into Morongo Basin Jail for suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance. Tani Garcia was cited and released Tuesday evening.
