Ex-judge dead in standoff
Investigators were looking for a motive after a former prosecutor and retired judge fatally shot his girlfriend and then himself after a standoff with a SWAT team in Ventura over the weekend.
Authorities say 69-yearold Herbert Curtis III barricaded himself inside a home on Dorsey Street on Sunday night with his girlfriend after neighbors called police reporting possible domestic violence.
Officers were trying to contact Curtis when they heard gunshots coming from the house, Ventura police said in a statement.
Officers set up a perimeter and a SWAT team negotiator began communicating with Curtis, who said he was armed, police said. During a standoff that lasted more than two hours, a SWAT team listening device picked up Curtis’ girlfriend, Patricia Payne, 54, saying she had been shot.
When more gunshots were heard from inside the home, the SWAT team moved in, police said.
Curtis shot himself and was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said. Payne was taken to a hospital, where she died.
Curtis was a Ventura County Municipal Court judge from 1984 to 1998. He was then appointed to the Ventura County Superior Court, where he served until his retirement in 2007.
“The news of his passing is met with great sadness,” the court’s assistant presiding judge, Kent Kellegrew, said in a statement. “... The court acknowledges Judge Curtis’ contributions and extends its condolences to his family.”
The events that led to the incident were not immediately known, officials said.