On Wednesday, Fresno police revealed that the man who shot himself at Community Regional Medical Center with an officer’s gun was a former Madera County Sheriff’s deputy.

Police arrested 32-year-old Isaac Hare on Monday on suspicion of retail theft and impersonating an officer. After resisting arrest and being tased four times, Hare was taken to the downtown hospital where he again fought with police, this time taking the officer’s gun and using it to kill himself.

“We feel obviously really bad for the Fresno Police Department and the officer that had to deal with that situation,” said Madera County Sheriff Tyson Pogue “We’re a close-knit law enforcement family in the Central Valley and we stand with the Fresno Police Department and obviously support the trauma that that officer probably felt.”

Hare Pretended to Be Law Enforcement Before

Hare was hired by the Madera Sheriff’s department in December 2016, and was let go in September 2017, never making it past his one-year probationary period, Pogue told GV Wire on Wednesday.

The sheriff’s did not give him a reason for his dismissal and Pogue did not remember why he was let go. Because Hare was a probationary employee, the sheriff’s department did not need a reason to fire him, Pogue said.

Pogue said that, as standard procedure, deputies took back Hare’s badge, ID, and all other issued police equipment.

Hare, however, did still have an ID that deputies had to retrieve shortly after being let go.

About two months after Hare’s exit from the department, deputies had to go to his home to retrieve a fake Madera County Sheriff’s ID card. He had been using it to get discounts on ammunition.

“In passing, that store owner had mentioned it to one of our lieutenants and we went out to his house and actually retrieved that false ID card from him,” Pogue said.

It is unclear whether Hare made the ID card, but it was not his official one, a spokesperson with the department told GV Wire.

It didn’t meet the level of a crime so there wasn’t any reason to prosecute, the spokesperson said.

While using a fake law enforcement ID isn’t a felony, it is a misdemeanor. California penal code states:

“Any person other than one who by law is given the authority of a law enforcement officer, who willfully wears, exhibits, or uses the authorized uniform, insignia, emblem, device, label, certificate, card, or writing, of a law enforcement officer, with the intent of fraudulently impersonating a law enforcement officer … is guilty of a misdemeanor.”

Former Law Enforcement Personnel Can Keep Their Uniforms

As deputies purchase their own uniforms, however, those are not given up after leaving the department, Pogue said.

Fresno Police suspected Hare of going to the Fresno Best Buy wearing a police uniform, pretending to be law enforcement.

The department did not specify what law enforcement uniform Hare used when he went to Best Buy. A search of Hare’s home uncovered law enforcement uniforms as well as guns and ammunition.

To become a Madera Sheriff’s Deputy, applicants have to undergo background checks, psychological screening, and receive a polygraph test, Pogue said. They also talk to former employers, neighbors, and family.

Hare got his training through the State Center Regional Training Facility, Pogue said.