Four San Diego County animal control officers joined the hundreds of mourners who paid tribute Saturday to a Sacramento County animal control officer who was killed in the line of duty Nov. 28.
Officer Roy Marcum, 45, was checking on some animals reportedly abandoned at a home when he was shot to death. After a 17-hour SWAT operation in Galt, police arrested Joseph Corey, the man who had been evicted from the property the day before. Marcum had been an animal control officer for 14 years.
Fellow officers and staff members from around the state travelled to Sacramento to pay their respects. Among them were Deputy Director Dan DeSousa and Animal Control Officers Victor Posada, Jennifer Jordan and Gina Raygosa from San Diego County’s Department of Animal Services (DAS). They took part in a 53-vehicle procession in honor of Marcum.
“As animal control officers, we all expect that we are going to get bit by a dog,” said DeSousa. “Until now, we would have never thought that an animal control officer may walk up to door and someone will put a shotgun blast through the door.”
DeSousa said there was nothing to indicate any potential problems. The locks had been changed and Marcum was approaching the house with a bank official who had the keys when the shot rang out.
Marcum is survived by his wife and four children. DAS officers wore black mourning bands on their badges in Marcum’s memory from the date of his death until the services on Saturday.
Below: Animal control officers from around the state joined the funeral procession for Sacramento County Animal Control Officer Roy Marcum.
