The man who died in a shooting at a motel in Twentynine Palms early Tuesday morning had been smoking methamphetamine for days with his girlfriend, and they were in fear for their lives from unknown killers, according to the Sheriff’s Department. Deputies were called to the Motel 6 on 29 Palms Highway at 3:22 a.m. Tuesday to investigate a call of shots fired. When deputies knocked on the third-floor room and identified themselves as law enforcement officers, they heard a gunshot from inside the room. The door immediately opened and the suspect—who has only been identified as a 39-year-old man from Yucca Valley—fired a handgun at the deputies—who immediately returned fire and took cover. The suspect went back inside his room and closed the door. Deputies ordered the man to surrender and come out with his hands up. A woman in the room, Tani Garcia, 39, of Yucca Valley, did emerge, and she told deputies that her boyfriend was injured, but alive. She told deputies they had been up for several days smoking meth and had checked into the room a few hours earlier because they feared they were being followed by unknown persons who wanted to kill them. A SWAT team arrived and tried unsuccessfully to communicate with the suspect inside the room. About 8 a.m., SWAT sent a robot equipped with a camera into the room, where it was discovered the suspect appeared to be deceased. A Taurus 9 mm gun was located nearby, and two magazines of ammunition were in the man’s pants pockets. The Riverside County Coroner’s office will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of his death. Tani Garcia was arrested for investigation of being under the influence of a controlled substance, booked into the Morongo Basin Jail, where she was cited and released later that evening.
