Posted on 07/12/2005 2:16:59 PM PDT by La Enchiladita
Los Angeles police said Monday that the shootout that left a 19-month-old toddler dead occurred after officers attempted to rescue the girl by storming the used car dealership where her father was holding her hostage.
The decision came more than two hours into Sunday's standoff when officers believed they had wounded Raul Peña and hoped they could save Susie Lopez, a pigtailed little girl whose somber face adorned magazine ads for his car lot.
But instead of rescuing the girl, officers found themselves in a harrowing gun battle inside the business' cramped office. The gunfire ended with the suspect dead, an officer wounded, and Susie lying on the floor, shot in the head.
The office was peppered with more than 60 bullet holes. One shot pierced a photo of Susie that Peña kept on his wall.
These were among new details offered Monday as officials tried to explain how the Watts shootout ended with the death of the hostage whom officers were trying to save.
But police were not able to answer two central questions in the case: When the girl was killed, and who fired the shot.
Police Chief William J. Bratton insisted Monday that the officers had no choice but to enter the building, saying that Peña, who police on Sunday had identified as Jose Raul Lemos, had repeatedly fired into the street, holding the girl in front of him and threatening to kill her.
The girl's family disputed many details of the police account, arguing that the situation could have been resolved peacefully.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.trb.com ...
Oh, by the way, the perpetrator shot a police officer through the right shoulder. This involved two shootouts, a standoff, phone negotiations with the perp, dozens of SWAT team officers, extremely careful maneuvers on the part of police and now they're being criticized.
What remains unclear is whether the little girl was already dead when they reached the office, or whether she died with her father in the ensuing shootout, said Lt. Paul Vernon, a police spokesman.
Justicia = money.
I'm sure she'll receive it, but the person really at fault in this is her late husband (aka, the perp).
May God help the girl. The spokeswoman speaking Spanish indicates the need for our "guests" to learn English. Then perhaps there would have been a peaceful end instead of a possible misunderstanding.
Was this guy a ILLEGAL ALIEN?
The police think he shot the girl before they entered the office...
but the LA Times needs to crucify someone...
Justicia = money.
***
Of course and since her lowlife "husband" is gone, she can't get any cash from him. So hey...why not sue the police instead? (sarcasm, in case you didn't notice) :)
Some officers moved forward to rescue the stepdaughter while others tried to keep Peña distracted on the phone. But as the police pried open the gate, Peña emerged with the toddler again and fired at them. Officers returned fire and succeeded in removing the stepdaughter.
A few people were on a thread the other day, really bad mouthing these police officers.
Here these guys are putting their butts on the line to rescue this guys step daughter while being shot at by this guy, and they stand around bad mouthing LAPD?
ping
No good deed goes unpunished.
Also, per John Ziegler's radio show last night, there's some unsavory background on the perp having to do with sexual molestation. A huge amount of info for the LA Slimes and PC TV to ignore.
Let's wait and see how many of these bullets were from the Police and how many from this thug Pena -
But it could appear this might have been amateur hour by the LAPD - And now a 19 month old little girl is dead -
Tough situation, without a doubt - let's see what continues to filter out of this case - But the police might have practiced terrible firing discipline -
They also might have had too many officers in on the assault from the very beginning thus helping to cause the goatfk this turned into-
We're not allowed to know this. Media will not disclose, neither will police department. We still don't know the residency status of mass killer Juan Manuel Alvarez, who doused his jeep with gasoline on the train tracks and fled the scene.
These aren't amateurs, they're the SWAT team. Did you read the entire article before jumping on them? This is the second child fatality in the history of SWAT deployments.
I don't suppose you'd consider the perp guilty in the death of the child?
He ran the dealership so chances are he was. /sarc off, maybe
And what do you have to say about YOUR police department? The same?
Right, sit back in Texas and criticize the LAPD, while all these officers risked their own lives, and one was shot in the right shoulder. Oh, and be sure you don't blame the perp for shooting at innocents, which started all this.
There is usually a lot more to the story than is ever printed in MSM. Officers are human and do make mistakes, but as previously stated, they were out putting their lives on the lines so that we don't have to. The suspect was wrong originally for putting the child in that situation. What a selfish pseudo-man. Real men don't put their children in danger needlessly.
I wanna know when the LAPD snipers were given the green light to shoot.
You haven't a CLUE what you're talking about.
You get numb to it after a while. What I find ironic with some, is how the MSM cannot be trusted unless they put out a story that scrutinizes the police. If the police screwed up here they'll get their just due as it should be but I don't see how they could of done any differently here with the the decription of how things transpired. LAPD is a fine rank and file department sullied over the years by inadequate and PC administration imho.
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