(MintPress) – The Orange County District Attorney’s office is investigating the shooting death of a Marine sergeant after a deputy shot and killed the man in a high school parking lot while the man’s daughters were inside the vehicle.
Sgt. Manuel Loggins Jr. was pulled over on Feb. 7 for a traffic stop around 4:40 a.m. after an Orange County Sherriff’s deputy saw Loggins drive at high speeds and crash his GMC Yukon through a barrier near the athletic fields of San Clemente High School.
Reports say Loggins, who was unarmed, got out of his truck and began walking toward the athletic fields, but returned to his truck about five minutes later. Once at his truck, “something happened that made the deputy fear for his life,” according to sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino.
Loggins was shot through the driver-side window while his daughters, 9 and 14, were in the back seat. They were unharmed.
The deputy, who is on paid leave, later said Loggins was acting irrationally and worried for the safety of the children. Amormino said Loggins and the deputy exchanged words, however, he would not go into detail about what was said.
Amormino also said Loggins failed to follow the deputy’s commands while walking to and from the vehicle, but it remains unclear what the “irrational” behaviors were that the deputy claims Loggins was exhibiting.
Friends of Loggins say they struggle to believe that he would act in a manner that would prompt such harsh retaliation.
Darlene Patino-Rousch told a San Clemente media outlet that she studied nursing with Loggins and that he was passionate about the medical field. She said what Loggins did was out of character.
“I know he would never jeopardize the lives of his girls nor ever disobey an order,” Patino-Rousch said. She also said Loggins was a “good Christian and family man who went above and beyond to help those in need.”
Patino-Rousch shed some light on what Loggins was facing, saying he gravitated toward medicine because he still wanted to be able to give back to society after leaving the Marines.
“Manny was very interested in the medical field,” Patino-Rousch said. “He knew he would eventually have to leave the Marines, and he wanted to do something where he could give back.”
Loggins, however, had informed her that he was going to skip a quarter of school and did not show up to clinicals at Centinela Medical Center. Patino-Rousch said fellow students were disappointed in his decision.
Sources have also reported that Loggins’ wife is late into her pregnancy.
Source: MintPress
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