Modoc County, Calif. (KRCR) — It’s been a little over a week since the morning Deputy Jack Hopkins was shot and killed responding to a family disturbance–a call that Modoc County Sheriff Mike Poindexter said was his. “He was supposed to be handling the court calendar. That should’ve been my call. That’s what makes this extra hard for me,”
He said Hopkins was working in the Modoc Courthouse when he heard the call during a break. “Jack happened to be over near dispatch when a call came in and just like Jack– I got this. Out the door he went.”
That’s when Poindexter said he heard Hopkins on the radio. “I called dispatch to find out why he wasn’t in court and she told me the call was on so I left immediately in that direction. The short of it is I didn’t get there in time.”
Poindexter said he didn’t know Hopkins was fatally shot when he was rushing over. “All I knew was that Jack Hopkins had not arrived on scene he had not gone ‘1097’ as we say. So i can only assume he had gone between when I encountered Jack Breiner and the ranch.”
That’s when Poindexter exchanged gunfire with Breiner. “Breiner was stuck in a mud puddle, spinning his tires couldn’t get out. Soon as he saw me he got out and started shooting,” said Sheriff Poindexter. He believes there’s enough evidence that Breiner was waiting for Hopkins. “I’m pretty sure he intentionally… I know he fired at me. I didn’t even have my truck stopped and he was shooting at me.”
Poindexter added that this is not the first time they’ve responded at the ranch for a family disturbance about Breiner. “We never expected to have a weapons issue with him. He likes to resist a little bit and that was the main reason i wanted to be there for Jack in case we had to arrest him.”
Sheriff Poindexter said, “I’m hanging in there–from time to time struggling through this, but got a lot of people that really care and a lot of help.”
Poindexter was injured from shattered glass. “My injuries were superficial. Just flying glass from when my window got shot out. I didn’t even know i was injured. Just a little bit of blood on the side of my car and I was like where’d that come from.”
He went right back to work after. “I haven’t missed a beat, can’t afford to.”
Poindexter said he continues to mourn for one of his best deputies, and although he and the department have to keep up with regular their tasks things around the office will never be the same.
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