Marquise Chapple, 18, was shot and wounded by Sacramento sheriff’s deputies while fleeing holding a loaded gun. But a bizarre sequence of subsequent events saw Chapple in a hospital, then jail, then released and then made to return to jail.
On March 5, Chapple, The OBSERVER has confirmed, was a passenger in a car that had pulled into a nearby strip mall at Fruitridge Road and Odea Drive around 8:30 p.m. when he was shot.
“An adult male passenger from that vehicle opened the front passenger door and began to run away on foot,” Sheriff’s spokesman Amar Gandhi said in a statement. “Detectives gave chase and observed the suspect holding a gun in his hand while running.”
Chapple does not deny that he was holding a gun and ran because he was afraid. “I wasn’t even thinking so I just got out of the car and tried to run,” Chapple told The OBSERVER in an exclusive telephone interview Tuesday. “I was just scared.”
The sheriff’s office said that a few moments later, an officer-involved shooting ensued, where Chapple was struck at least once in the torso.
Chapple was shot at least twice, The OBSERVER has confirmed. He was shot in the left buttocks and on the right side of his torso under his arm which exited just below the center of his chest below the collarbone.
A glock-style handgun was recovered along with a loaded extended capacity 30-round magazine next to Chapple, the sheriff said.
No deputies or other individuals were injured during the incident.
Chapple spent more than a week in a hospital and was transferred to the main jail on March 14.
He was initially charged with possession of a concealed firearm, possession of a firearm that is registered to someone else, a loaded firearm, and attempted assault on an officer with a deadly weapon. His bail was set at $250,000.
Chapple claims that he never turned back towards the deputies that shot him nor did he hear commands to stop running.
“I was running for about a minute before they shot me,” Chapple said. “If they did say something, I’m a young Black man so I would have stopped.”
Gandhi told The OBSERVER that the video of the encounter would be released within 45 days of the incident, but he did not have an exact date.
The investigation is still ongoing and an independent review of the incident will be conducted by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.
The deputy involved in the shooting will be placed on administrative leave pending the investigation.
Odd Series Of Events
Chapple was due in court for his firearm related charges on March 19 but when The OBSERVER went to the hearing, deputies said Chapple was not on the docket and his charges were “declined.”
A clerk in the county jail told The OBSERVER that prosecutors may have decided to drop the charges and that Chapple had been released from jail. The clerk clarified that the district attorney still could pursue the charges later.
Chapple was told by his attorney that he had to surrender himself and go back to jail on March 20, which he did.
At one point, sheriff records indicated that Chapple was charged with escaping from jail though that is no longer the case.
Gandhi told The OBSERVER that Chapple was accidentally released due to a technological error.
“It’s a technological communication error between the courts and the jail. It wasn’t a personnel issue,” Gandhi said. “He is not charged at all with escape.”
The District Attorney’s Office confirmed Chapple is now being charged with assault on a peace officer with a semiautomatic firearm and carrying a loaded firearm.
He is also being held with no bail, according to sheriff records.
Chapple is due in court April 3.