BUTTE CREEK CANYON — Valerie Cadwallader, ranting incoherently, was pointing a pellet gun rifle last spring when shot dead with a single round from a Butte County sheriff’s deputy’s assault rifle.
That’s according to Brian Marklund, the owner of the pellet gun and of the property where his friend Cadwallader, 48, was killed May 8 by deputy Tyler Dentinger.
Deputies had earlier used a drone to confirm the rifle was a pellet gun, according to Marklund, who said he heard deputies transmit that it was a “.117 caliber air gun” over their radios.
“I don’t think it was even loaded,” Marklund said.
Marklund said other sheriff’s deputies were in de-escalation mode when Dentinger drove up the driveway of his neighbor’s property. “Less than a minute” after Dentinger’s arrival, Marklund heard “Drop the gun!” shouted and “not three seconds later” came the gunshot.