Father Of Suspect In Galt's Fatal Officer Shooting Also Faced Murder Charges

GALT (CBS13) - The suspect in the fatal shooting of a Galt officer has a family history with the law, including past murder charges.

"I just found out earlier today. Can you please leave now? I'd appreciate it, OK?" said the suspect's stepfather.

Thirty-year-old Humphrey Gascon's stepfather offered little, saying he hadn't talked to his stepson in more than a year.

"He didn't seem to be a mean kid, you know," neighbor Christine Jones said. "He was just a kid of this day and age."

The neighbor says the suspect had an edge to him.

"Nothing that would make you think something like this could ever happen," said Jones.

Gascon doesn't have a violent criminal history. However, he was arrested after a 2001 traffic stop in San Joaquin County. Deputies found an illegal, deadly weapon in his possession: a club.

A deeper look, decades into his past, reveals a disturbing family history.

"It's the old adage, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Gascon's cousin Kathleen Gapusan said. "I guess that's what my initial thought was."

Newspaper archives show the suspect's father, Humphrey Gascon Sr., was charged in the brutal murders of a husband and wife in the early 1970s. But those charges were later dropped.

"Got away with it because there was a technicality," said Gapusan. "He was supposedly on LSD when he made his confession."

Gapusan remains convinced Gascon Sr. is guilty.

Now, all these years later, his son pulled the trigger and killed a well-loved police officer. But this time around, Gascon Jr. won't be around to answer to the charges.

"It's shocking that this could happen again. It's like a repeat, but he took the easy way out, you know, he killed himself," said Gapusan.