View Full Version : Two men shot by off-duty cop at Angel Stadium following game
Good for him for protecting his family. If it was a justified shooting, I hope he is not pilloried in the press and by his department. I won't hold my breath.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Two men shot by off-duty cop at Angel Stadium following game
BY JON CASSIDY
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
ANAHEIM — Two men were hospitalized after being shot by an off-duty police officer who they allegedly assaulted in the Angel Stadium parking lot following Wednesday night's game.
About a half hour after the game between the Angels and the Colorado Rockies, which ended at 10:20 p.m., the off-duty Anaheim Police officer called his department to say that two men had hit him in the head with an unknown object and he had shot them following the assault, said Anaheim Police Sgt. Tim Schmidt.
The officer had attended the game with his wife and children, Schmidt said.
One man was shot in the head and his injuries are considered life-threatening, said Schmidt, adding that the other man was shot in the upper arm and is in serious but stable condition.
Both shooting victims were hospitalized at UCI Medical Center.
The officer was also taken to a hospital in serious condition from being struck in the head with the object, which police said was either a bottle or a club, said Schmidt.
The Anaheim Police Department is asking witnesses to call 714-765-1944.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/police-officer-schmidt-2474100-anaheim-shot
Remington Raidr
06-25-2009, 07:41
Question Number ONE: Did the shooter have a detectable level of Blood Alcohol Content. If so, then this is gonna be three drunks in a gunfight, two without guns. I wonder what departmental policy is regarding off-duty recreational activities while armed. As Bunny said "I got a bad feeling about this".
Well, at least the headline isn't biased. :rolleyes:
Well, at least the headline isn't biased. :rolleyes:
The reason I don't have much faith he will be treated fairly. Recently, a local police officer shot and killed a known gang-banger after he went for his weapon. The press lionized the turd as a 'promising life' cut short. The Chief of Police apologized to the family.
greenberetTFS
06-25-2009, 09:32
The reason I don't have much faith he will be treated fairly. Recently, a local police officer shot and killed a known gang-banger after he went for his weapon. The press lionized the turd as a 'promising life' cut short. The Chief of Police apologized to the family.
SF-TX,
Now that is incredible................:mad:
Big Teddy :munchin
The reason I don't have much faith he will be treated fairly. Recently, a local police officer shot and killed a known gang-banger after he went for his weapon. The press lionized the turd as a 'promising life' cut short. The Chief of Police apologized to the family.
Yep. He'd be a first class citizen like this guy:
Feds arrest head of anti-gang group in LA
Jun 25, 12:04 AM (ET)
By THOMAS WATKINS
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A man who said he left a ruthless street gang in Central America and later won praise for his anti-gang work in Los Angeles was arrested Wednesday by authorities who allege he conspired to kill a rival even as he spoke out against gang life.
Alex Sanchez, 37, who heads the local office of the nonprofit Homies Unidos anti-gang group, was taken into custody at his Bellflower home on federal racketeering charges, authorities said.
The indictment names 24 leaders, members and associates of MS-13, part of the Mara Salvatrucha gang affiliated with the Mexican Mafia prison gang.
It alleges crimes that include seven murders, eight conspiracies to commit murder, and gun and narcotics offenses since 1995. Sixteen of those named were already in custody. Four others, including Sanchez, were arrested Wednesday.
The alleged crimes by Sanchez occurred after he returned from El Salvador in 1996 and publicly decried gang life.
The indictment said he went by the nickname Rebelde, or rebel, and was a shot-caller for the Normandie contingent of MS-13. He and three others are accused in the indictment of conspiring to murder a man identified by authorities as Walter Lacinos "for the purpose of maintaining and increasing their position in MS-13."
In May 2006, Lacinos was killed in El Salvador.
No other details were provided in the indictment. Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney George Cardona declined to provide any specifics beyond the court filing.
Shot-callers manage the narcotics operations in certain gang territories, collect extortion payments and resolve disputes, the indictment states.
Mara Salvatrucha was formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s by immigrants fleeing the El Salvador civil war. The gang spread as members were deported to their home country and is now a major international criminal enterprise known for callous killings carried out by its members, many of whom are heavily tattooed with shaved heads.
Five others named in the indictment, not including Sanchez, conspired to murder a veteran gang detective with the Los Angeles Police Department, authorities said.
Known as an anti-gang worker, Sanchez has testified as an expert witness in criminal cases, lobbied for better intervention and prevention programs, spoken to youths about the depressing consequences of gang life and been widely quoted in the media, including by The Associated Press.
Luis Enrique Guzman, a community organizer at the Los Angeles Homies Unidos office, said the group would have no immediate comment.
Luis Romero, director of the Homies Unidos office in El Salvador, said the organization did not accept the allegations against Sanchez.
"We know that Homies Unidos U.S.A. is doing great work in the reinsertion and rehabilitation of young people," Romero said.
He said he had no details on the charges.
Asked what he thought prompted the allegations, he said, "these are the famous smoke screens, things that they use, things that they have not been able to solve and they take action without previously investigating."
Sanchez arrived in Los Angeles at age 7 from El Salvador and joined Mara Salvatrucha when he was 14. He was jailed three times for minor offenses and deported to El Salvador in 1994.
He told the AP in a March interview that in his home country he had to live on the streets, fleeing death squads and gangs who threatened to kill him because they believed him a rival.
He returned illegally to Los Angeles in 1995. Authorities tried to deport him a second time, but he was granted political asylum after saying police picked him up because he had testified against officers in the Rampart police corruption scandal.
Several people spoke in his defense, including Tom Hayden, a former student radical and state senator.
In July 2002, Sanchez received political asylum after officials determined his life would be in danger if he returned to El Salvador.
It was the latest instance in which an anti-gang advocate has been arrested. In January, Marlo "Bow Wow" Jones was arrested in the robbing and beating of a rapper with the musical group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony in his Universal City hotel room. At the time, Jones was working as a gang intervention worker.
Last year, Hector "Big Weasel" Marroquin, a former gang member in suburban Los Angeles who founded an anti-violence group, was sentenced to eight years in prison for selling assault weapons.
Civil rights lawyer and gang expert Connie Rice said anti-gang workers sometimes struggle to completely leave behind gang affiliations.
"The best ones are the ones who have completely gotten out of the life, but kept the relationships and still are respected," she said. "But they are the exception and not the rule. Most of these guys are go-betweens, some act as buffers and some are still in the gang."
Rice said she had wondered about Sanchez because he had been absent from community meetings aimed at reducing MS-13 violence.
"The thing that makes it really complicated is that Alex did really good work," she said. "He helped a lot of kids, put a lot of kids in school."
Homies Unidos was founded in 1996 in El Salvador. Sanchez helped establish the Los Angeles office the following year.
The office has helped remove tattoos from more than 240 gang members.
FBI officials said everyone named on the indictment could face up to 25 years to life in prison, while those charged with murder could face the death penalty. No one else from Homies Unidos was named in the indictment.
---
Associated Press Writer Marcos Aleman in El Salvador contributed to this story.
APNews Link (http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090625/D991FEJ00.html)
Pat
monsterhunter
06-25-2009, 20:00
Anaheim PD has a very good reputation. I drive right past Dodgers Stadium on my way to see a game at Angels Stadium. They've kept the place in very good shape for families.
Kudos to the officer (even without all the facts yet in). Three shots, at least two hits, and one of them a head shot.
The sister of the suspects doesn't add much to their credibility either: A quote referring to all the booze found in the suspect's vehicle, "I don't know how those bottles got in there," she said (www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Two-Shot-at-Angel-Stadium.html).
That statement alone ranks right up there with the old "That's not my dope and these aren't my pants. I borrowed them from some guy at a party last night."
Source is here (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/police-officer-martinez-2475951-anaheim-parking#).
Friday, June 26, 2009
Man posts bail after stadium shooting; brother still in hospital
Police: Off-duty officer shot man, brother after they hit him with bottles.
By DENISSE SALAZAR and JON CASSIDY
The Orange County Register
ANAHEIM – One of two brothers who was shot and injured by an off-duty Anaheim police officer posted bail shortly after being booked in connection with the confrontation in the Angel Stadium parking lot, police said.
Jose Velazquez, 22, of Ontario, was released about 4:30 p.m. Thursday from UCI Medical Center in Orange after being treated for a gunshot wound to the upper arm. He was then booked at the Anaheim Detention Facility on suspicion of felony assault with a deadly weapon, said Anaheim Police Sgt. Rick Martinez. He posted bail hours later and was ordered to appear in court in August.
His brother, Carlos Velazquez, 25, a U.S. Marine from Camp Pendleton, remains hospitalized at UCI Medical Center. He was left paralyzed on one half of his body by the bullet, which hit his spinal cord, a doctor told his family. His throat will need to be reconstructed, family members said. Doctors did not know whether the paralysis would be permanent, they said.
Carlos Velazquez, who was detained at the hospital, has been released from police custody because of his critical medical condition, Martinez said.
The investigation is continuing and the case is expected to be presented to the District Attorney’s Office for review of charges by early next week, Martinez said.
The Velazquez brothers, who family members say have no criminal record, were at the Angels game Wednesday night with two friends and a girlfriend.
About a half-hour after the game ended at 10:20 p.m. Wednesday, the off-duty officer called 911, police said.
“He said there were guys trying to get in his car,” Martinez said. The officer reported that he was choked and that the men wouldn't leave, and then a confrontation developed, Martinez said.
The officer stopped talking to a dispatcher, but screaming could be heard in the background, Martinez said.
“At this stage, it appears the officer, who had been there with his wife and kids, was confronted by a total of three men,” Martinez said. “We are trying to identify this (third) man … and what the confrontation was about with all these people.”
Witnesses told police the men hit the officer over the head with beer bottles, Martinez said.
The 38-year-old police officer was released from a hospital early Thursday morning, Martinez said. The officer's wife and children were unharmed, Martinez said.
The officer, who has not been identified, is assigned to patrol and has eight and a half years of law enforcement experience. The officer joined the Anaheim Police Department about a year and a half ago after being with another police agency in Orange County for seven years, Martinez said. The officer is on paid administrative leave.
The District Attorney’s Office and the Anaheim Police Department are investigating the shooting.
The Anaheim Police Department is asking witnesses to call 714-765-1944.
Contact the writer: 714-704-3709 or desalazar@ocregister.com