Off-duty CHP officer kills wife, shoots self outside Amador County store, authorities say

An off-duty California Highway Patrol officer fatally shot his wife before killing himself after an altercation in a strip mall in Martell, Calif., the Amador County Sheriff’s Office reported Tuesday.

Sheriff’s deputies received a call about 10:45 p.m. Monday from the owner of Get Ripped Nutrition, a vitamin and supplement store, who said a man he knew to be a CHP officer and later identified as Brad Wheat was banging on the door, demanding to be let in, authorities said. The owner of the business was inside the store with Mary Wheat, 42, the man’s wife.

Brad Wheat, 45, shot through the window to get inside the business, and an altercation between the Wheats and the shop owner began, sheriff’s officials said. During the struggle, the business owner was shot in the shoulder.

The Wheats continued arguing and moved into the parking lot, where Brad Wheat shot his wife multiple times before turning the gun on himself, the sheriff’s office reported.

The shop owner was airlifted to a hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound.

“We believe there was a relationship between the victim, the husband and his wife,” said sheriff’s spokesman Gary Redman, who did not provide further details.

Brad Wheat had been a CHP officer in Amador County for two years, Redman said.

Mary Wheat was the partial owner of a gym in the Martell area, Redman said. He could not confirm whether her husband also had ownership of the facility. The Sutter Creek couple had four children.