Isaiah Cordero, a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy, was fatally shot Thursday afternoon during a traffic stop in Jurupa Valley, sparking a high-speed chase.
He considered the Border Patrol, then decided instead to join the Sheriff’s Department. The positive, energetic deputy worked in jails in Riverside County, but ultimately chose to be out in the streets patrolling and applied himself to become a part of the department’s motorcycle unit.
The third strike came when he was convicted on Nov. 8, 2021, of false imprisonment, evading a peace officer, criminal threats likely to result in death or great bodily injury, and receiving stolen property. Evidence included zip ties, duct tape, an ax and gang paraphernalia. McKay represented himself at trial but absconded before his sentencing. There had been a warrant out for his arrest since October.
He had worked with Cordero in the department’s DUI unit, then both had become motorcycle deputies. Thursday morning started like any other day: Shinn bought himself and Cordero an energy drink at a gas station before work, but when he showed up he found that Cordero had bought Shinn an energy drink too.
“I got the call. I was hoping it was an update that he was going to be fine, but it was [the] total opposite,” said Morales, crying in an interview with The Times. “The minute I started dating him ... you just know what you’re getting yourself into. You think about what could happen every night when they leave, and when they come home you’re thankful.Morales was nervous when Cordero joined the motorcycle unit earlier this year.
After running over a spike strip set up by law enforcement, McKay’s car began to smoke and soon became disabled. McKay shot at officers pursuing him, who returned fire and killed him, Bianco said. It was not McKay’s first police chase. He had led police on a high-speed chase in 1999, driving 90 mph on surface streets, forcing Caltrans workers to dive out of the way as he sped through a work zone, according to court documents. When his car was disabled, he got out with a gun and waved it in the air menacingly at officers before finally surrendering.
His violent history should have kept him in jail, Bianco said. He was convicted of his third strike in November 2021, but was released after a judge lowered his bail in the case, according to Bianco. McKay’s bail in the case was originally set at $950,000 in June 2021, court records show. After the verdicts, including his acquittal on kidnapping charges, Judge Cara D. Hutson reduced his bail to $500,000.