Community marks death (Santa Clarita)

SANTA CLARITA -- Bearing candles and wiping away tears, nearly 500 people turned out in the Santa Clarita Valley for a Sunday evening vigil in honor of Hagop "Jake" Kuredjian, a beloved sheriff's deputy killed 10 days ago in a Stevenson Ranch shootout.

With clutched hands and bowed heads, a pastor and a rabbi offered prayers of healing and hope before lighting candles held by the deputy's family members, who wept throughout the vigil.

As a woman sang the mournful tune of "Amazing Grace," the deputy's family members turned to those around them and lighted their candles in turn.

"Jake has touched everyone, whether they knew him or not," said Dave Bossert, an organizer of the vigil. The crowd gathered in a small corner park at Stevenson Ranch and Poe parkways, where an impromptu memorial has been growing since the shooting.

Kids rode their scooters to the 7 p.m. vigil, while moms pushed strollers and dads pulled wagons full of kids.

"The way the community has pulled together has made me really proud," said Tracy Givens, a Stevenson Ranch resident.

At the vigil, 5th District Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich announced that Stevenson Ranch's newest park would be named in honor of Kuredjian. Situated next to the future site of the Pico Canyon Elementary School, the park is scheduled to be completed by 2003.

In addition, he said, the street in front of the new J. Michael McGrath Elementary School in Newhall will be named in honor of the slain deputy.

Capt. Don Rodriguez, commander of the Santa Clarita sheriff's station, remembered Kuredjian and thanked the crowd gathered for supporting the Sheriff's Department in the days following the shooting.

"Jake would have been awestruck by the outpouring from the community," Rodriguez said, laughing and crying while he spoke.

More than 5,000 people laid Kuredjian to rest last week, calling the deputy a hero and a soldier of decency.

Kuredjian was killed after federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms arrived to search the Brooks Circle home of James Allen Beck for weapons and evidence that he had been impersonating a police officer.

As agents climbed through a window into the home, Beck opened fire, launching a four-hour standoff that terrorized the neighborhood.

Investigators believe Beck shot Kuredjian from a second-floor bedroom, just as the popular motorcycle officer was aiming his gun at the shooter from behind a red Ford Explorer.

Beck died in a blaze authorities believe was sparked by a tear gas cannister lobbed into the home by deputies. The fire started on a bed on the second floor and ultimately destroyed the house.

Federal agents obtained a search warrant for Beck's house after neighbors tipped off officials that Beck -- a onetime police officer and twice-convicted felon -- was stockpiling weapons. Several mothers in the neighborhood were also alarmed by Beck's interest in their small children and feared he might be a pedophile.

Several mothers in the neighborhood were also alarmed by Beck's interest in their small children and feared he might be a pedophile.

Actually, I heard that he might have been part German, and could have been guilty of genocide in another life.

Plus, he might have been a cannibal.

Investigators believe Beck shot Kuredjian from a second-floor bedroom, just as the popular motorcycle officer was aiming his gun at the shooter from behind a red Ford Explorer.

Damn those Aussie Red Talon boomerang bullets! ;-)

Here's some more stuff you can use in your smear-Beck arsenal. ;-)

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To: Joe Brower

Retreat and call in support then. Bottom line, the mission of the police isn't to deploy maximum force and "go to war" right off the bat, putting innumerable innocent lives in jeopardy.

Retreat in a neighborhood? I don't think so. I think if Beck opens up with explosives, that guy with M60 opens up in full-auto. Clear out his field of fire before that happens.

"When the going gets tough, the tough go cyclic."

19 Posted on 09/09/2001 12:06:35 PDT by tbeatty
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Sounds like you snorted a little bit too much gunpowder, buckshot. ;-)

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