According to California officials and local media accounts, police killed a father of five while investigating a nearby yard in the man’s property. On Tuesday, Feb. 21, just after 10 a.m., police were at a house in Hemet looking into a theft when they discovered an armed guy in a nearby yard, according to a news release from the Hemet Police Department. According to police, an officer shot the man. No police were harmed.
Police stated that after being transferred to the hospital, the man was declared deceased. In a GoFundMe post, Christian Drye’s family referred to his murder as a “senseless act of violence.”
“This is a good man, a family man, a working man. He did not deserve this,” Shameka “Monique” Drye, the man’s wife, told The Press Enterprise.
Shameka Drye told NBC Los Angeles that police had knocked on their home before the shooting, seeking to investigate their property because they thought there might be a theft suspect there. Christian Drye, according to the publication, declined and said he would check his yard with his lawfully obtained gun.
“They knew he was going back there because they said ‘OK,’” Shameka Drye told The Press Enterprise. “They killed my husband in cold blood.”
According to authorities, the officer was given administrative leave. According to officials, a joint investigation is being conducted by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office and Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
“He loved his children very much and would buy them the world if he could,” Shameka Drye wrote. Christian Drye leaves behind five children, ages 1 to 11, according to The Press Enterprise. “We are all heartbroken and devastated by this tragic loss, especially for his wife and young children,” a GoFundMe for the family said. Hemet is about 85 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
