Janet Ellen Trigg, a 58-year-old White woman, died on May 2, 2019, during a violent incident at a home on Meyers Lane in Somerset, California. Authorities identified Trigg's boyfriend, Ulrich Smith, as the suspected gunman. The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office was alerted at about 10:15 that morning after Trigg's mother went to a neighboring residence and reported that Smith had shot her daughter.
Sheriff's deputies converged on the rural property and surrounded the residence where the
shooting was believed to have occurred. Smith remained inside, and authorities treated the situation as an armed standoff. Law enforcement released his photograph while the incident was unfolding, and a substantial police response, including a SWAT team, was deployed to the area. Nearby Pioneer Union School was placed on lockdown as a precaution while deputies worked to contain the scene.
By approximately 4:30 p.m., deputies had confirmed that Smith was still inside the residence and was armed. Negotiators attempted to communicate with him and persuade him to surrender, but he refused to come out. The standoff continued into the evening as officers maintained a perimeter around the property.
At approximately 5:30 p.m., deputies heard a single gunshot from inside the residence. Officers subsequently entered and found Smith dead from what authorities described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound. As deputies secured the house, they also discovered Trigg deceased inside. The Sheriff's Office subsequently characterized the deaths as an apparent murder-suicide, with Smith identified as the suspect in Trigg's death.
Contemporaneous reports repeatedly stated that Trigg's mother had reported that Smith shot her daughter, but authorities had not publicly released a confirmed medical cause or precise circumstances of Trigg's death in the immediate aftermath. Detectives remained at the property and worked through the night processing the scene and investigating what had happened before deputies arrived.
The incident concluded without an arrest because Smith, the sole publicly identified suspect, died before he could be taken into custody. Consequently, there were no criminal charges, prosecution, trial, or conviction arising against him. Once the residence had been secured, officials announced that no suspects remained outstanding and that the surrounding area was safe, although the investigation at the property continued.
Trigg's death date and Somerset residence are also reflected in memorial records, which give her full name as Janet Ellen Trigg and record her life dates as October 23, 1960, to May 2, 2019. What began that morning as a report from a mother that her daughter had been shot ultimately developed into an hours-long law-enforcement standoff and ended with both Trigg and her suspected killer dead inside the home.
