TUSTIN, Calif. — A Southern California deputy was charged in the shooting death of her fiancée last August, prosecutors said on Monday.
According to a news release from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, Aimee Alexis Hidalgo, 28, of Tustin, surrendered to the Tustin Police Department.
Hidalgo, a deputy with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, was off-duty at the time of the shooting at a Tustin apartment complex, KABC reported.
She is accused of fatally shooting another Orange County deputy, Brittany Shaw, 35, of Tustin, nine times after the woman returned from walking her dog on Aug. 8, 2024, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The two women both worked at the Orange County Jail, prosecutors said.
Hidalgo was charged with one felony count of voluntary manslaughter and one felony enhancement of personal use of a firearm, prosecutors said. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 21 years in prison.
Prosecutors said that on Aug. 8, Ring camera footage showed Shaw leaving the couple’s apartment at 5:10 a.m. PT to walk her dog, the Times reported.
Shaw returned 10 minutes later, and Hidalgo allegedly shot the woman nine times. Shaw suffered wounds to her torso, right arm and head, prosecutors said.
The shot to Shaw’s head was at “close intermediate range” and discharged from less than 8 inches away, according to the coroner’s report.
Hidalgo called 911 and attempted CPR on Shaw until paramedics arrived, KABC reported. The victim was taken to an area hospital, where she was later pronounced dead, according to the television station.
Hidalgo later told investigators that she believed Shaw was an intruder, KTLA reported.
Hidalgo became an Orange County deputy in 2021, the news release stated. Shaw worked at the Orange County Jail in the Correctional Health department.
Health Care Agency Director Veronica Kelley sent a memo to staff “with great sadness” about Shaw, who worked for six years at the Intake Release Center.
Kelley told KABC that Shaw was the correctional health services chief.
“Her loss will be felt deeply by those who knew her throughout all levels of the HCA and the county family,” Kelly wrote in the memo, according to the television station.
The couple had been planning a destination wedding in Mexico in November 2025, prosecutors said.
“Human life is our most precious gift, and to lose the gift of life in your own home at the hands of someone you were engaged to is an indescribable tragedy,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “Lady Justice is blindfolded for a reason, to ensure justice is carried out without bias or prejudice, regardless of who is the accused.
“The badge is not a shield from prosecution; rather it is a symbol of the oath a sworn officer takes to uphold the law, on and off duty. When that oath is broken, the law applies equally to those with and without a badge and our duty to pursue justice for Brittany and all of those who loved her will be pursued in a court of law.”
© 2025 Cox Media Group
