Edgar Verduzco, 34, of Santa Ana will serve the sentences at the same time, said Deputy District Attorney Kaveh Faturechi.

Verduzco pleaded guilty on April 11 to three counts of murder, one count of driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, and one count of driving with a .08 percent blood alcohol content causing injury.

He was also sentenced on Friday to two years each for the DUI charges, which will be served concurrently, Faturechi said.

Verduzco apologized to the victims’ family during his sentencing held at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.

Verduzco’s lawyer couldn’t be reached for comment on Friday.

An off-duty Verduzco was drunk and driving 150 mph when his Camaro rear-ended a Nissan and a Scion on the southbound 605 Freeway, south of Saragosa Street, in the unincorporated community of West Whittier the night of Sept. 26, 2017, according to the California Highway Patrol and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

The Nissan hit a center divider and burst into flames, killing 52-year-old Maribel Davila, 60-year-old Mario Davila, and their 19-year-old son, Oscar Davila.

The Scion was carrying a mother and baby. The woman suffered minor injuries.

Oscar Davila, a graduate of John W. North High School in Riverside, worked as a tutor at his former school.

The Davilas also have three other sons and a daughter, Faturechi said.

Verduzco, who resigned from the LAPD, was with the department from July 2015 to July 2018, the LAPD said. At the time of the crash, he worked the front desk at Central Division.

Silvia Zhang, 38, of Arcadia was arrested May 9 on suspicion of child endangerment. (Photo courtesy of the Arcadia Police Department)

Guojun Xuan, 65, of Arcadia was arrested on May 9 on suspicion of child endangerment. (Photo courtesy of the Arcadia Police Department)

Police are looking for Chunmei Li, 56, of Arcadia who is suspected of shaking and hitting a 2-month-old baby boy in her care on May 5. (Photo courtesy of the Arcadia Police Department)

An Arcadia couple arrested two months ago on suspicion of child neglect after their 2-month-old baby boy was hospitalized and whose 21 other children were taken away, remain under investigation, police said.

It wasn’t clear how many of the children, ranging in age from two months to 13 years old, were born from surrogate mothers. Several women told KTLA they bore children for Silvia Zhang and contracted with Mark Surrogacy Investment.

Public records show Zhang is listed as manager for Mark Surrogacy and her residence on the 600 block of West Camino Real Avenue is the same address for the company. An agent for the company filed a document with the state ending the company on June 13. Zhang is also listed as a manager for another defunct company called Hope Surrogacy in Pomona.

Zhang, 38, and her husband, Guojun Xuan, 65, couldn’t be reached for comment on Wednesday.

The couple said they wanted a large family, Arcadia police Lt. Kollin Cieadlo said.

The primary focus by police is the child-abuse case, but they are working with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and federal officials to determine if there were other crimes, he added.

Zhang and Xuan haven’t been arrested on charges related to the other children or Mark Surrogacy.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said she cannot confirm or deny an investigation.

The 2-month-old baby remains in the hospital, Cieadlo said.

It wasn’t clear if the baby’s siblings are in foster care or with relatives. The Department of Children and Family Services declined to say.

“While we recognize the public’s interest in the details about the lives of children and families who come to our attention, DCFS is bound by state confidentiality laws that prevent the department from discussing potential involvement with families,” said Shiara Davila-Morales, a DCFS spokeswoman. “These laws are in place to protect children and families from further emotional distress while delicate family matters are resolved.”

Police say that surveillance video shows the nanny, Chunmei Li, 56, of Arcadia, on May 5 violently shaking and hitting the baby who became unconscious. There is an arrest warrant out for Li who has not been found.

The baby wasn’t taken to a hospital until two days later, after he started having seizures, police said, adding  that the infant was admitted with traumatic head injury and intracranial bleeding.

The hospital staff notified police about possible child abuse.

On May, 9 police arrested Zhang and Xuan on suspicion of felony child endangerment or neglect. Booking records show they were released from custody on May 13. They have not been charged.

DCFS took other children into protective custody that day. Fifteen of them were in the Arcadia house, which, according to public records, has nine bedrooms and 12 bathrooms in 10,287 square feet. The other children were in other Los Angeles County residences, Cieadlo said.

Arcadia police asked anyone with information about the case to call them at 626-574-5168. Anonymous tipsters can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or go to lacrimestoppers.org.

Detectives, patrol officers and an arson investigator from the West Covina Fire Department conducted four enforcement operations ahead of the July 4th holiday.

“These efforts are part of a citywide initiative to prevent injuries, fires, and property damage during the holiday season,” Lt. Tim Rodgers said.

Three of the operations led to the seizure of 1,300 pounds of illegal fireworks and a gun, according to Rodgers.

The fourth led them to a home in the 1300 block of Sherway Street. They served a search warrant and discovered approximately 8,000 pounds of illegal mortar-style fireworks, he said.

Timothy Tillman, 42, of Fullerton, was arrested at the scene for charges related to the possession and intent to distribute illegal fireworks, Rodgers said.

Booking records show Tillman was arrested the afternoon of July 1 and booked at West Covina jail. He was cited and released that night.

Police didn’t say when they conducted the three other operations and where the rest of the fireworks were found.

All fireworks are illegal in West Covina, Rodgers said.

To report illegal fireworks, call the West Covina Police at 626-939-8500.

Miguel Ocampo was arrested and booked on Monday, June 30, at the Santa Ana jail on suspicion of felony hit-and-run.

David Westman, 46, of Santa Ana was crossing Harbor Boulevard, police say they believe, stopped in the first lane and was struck on Sunday morning, June 29, said Officer Natalie Garcia, a spokeswoman for Santa Ana police.

Officers, at 5:26 a.m., found the unresponsive Westman, who died at the scene.

Police identified the suspect with help from surveillance video.

After hitting the man, Garcia said, the driver continued south on Harbor and pulled into a parking lot, where his vehicle was captured on surveillance video.

Detectives found the suspect and vehicle in Orange on Monday and took him into custody.

The settlement follows the arrest in March of former Claremont Officer Gabriel Arellanes on one count of forcible oral copulation that could land him in prison for a maximum eight years if convicted. The 39-year-old plaintiff, identified in her lawsuit as “Jane Doe,” accepted $2.9 million from the city to drop her civil case.

“It’s a horrible thing she went through,” said her attorney, Jerry Steering. “It was a reasonable amount of money to allow her to put an end to having to deal with this.”

An attorney for the city and Arellanes’ lawyer in the civil case did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Arellanes, who was hired in 2022, resigned in January after he was placed on leave months earlier.

The suit said Doe and the father of her children were “engaged in romantic activities” in the back seat of a car on Mount Baldy Road in Claremont shortly before midnight on Feb. 16, 2024. Arellanes approached, noticed a glass pipe inside the car and ordered the couple to get dressed and get out.

Arellanes handcuffed Doe and arrested her on suspicion of possession of a methamphetamine pipe, leaving her companion — and the pipe — behind, Steering said.

Doe was taken to the Pomona Police Department to be searched by a female officer, since none was available at the Claremont station, Steering said.

On the way there, Arellanes allegedly stopped the patrol car several times, pressed Jane Doe’s handcuffed body against the side of the car with his body and frisked her in a “sexually assaultive” manner, according to the lawsuit. When they arrived at the Pomona police station, Arellanes allegedly asked her to perform oral sex on him, but she refused, the lawsuit stated.

Jane Doe then was taken to the Claremont Police Department for booking.

While in the holding cell at the Claremont police station, Arellanes gave Jane Doe a cup of water, the lawsuit alleged, and she became disoriented.

Doe was cited and released. When she left the Claremont police station, Arellanes offered her a ride to the transit center and, without a car or money, Doe reluctantly accepted, according to the lawsuit. Arellanes drove her to a remote area of the transit center parking lot and forced her to orally copulate him before leaving her there, according to the lawsuit.

As part of the investigation, Doe gave San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department investigators a piece of Arellanes’ clothing with semen on it and a note he had written to her with his phone number on it, Steering said.

Steering lauded Claremont officials for referring the case to the Sheriff’s Department and settling the lawsuit.

“These days most police agencies do not act with such decency,” Steering said.

However, the criminal complaint dated June 19 that includes a sworn statement by a Homeland Security Investigations agent doesn’t mention Adrian Andrew Martinez punching an agent, as federal officials alleged earlier this week. Nor is Martinez shown punching or hitting an agent on a security video from Aguas Tijuana’s Juice Bar, one of the stores at the center, though at times he’s not visible.

Martinez appeared in a Los Angeles federal court on Friday, June 20. A federal magistrate judge ordered him released on $5,000 bond, and no plea was taken, authorities said. He was released on Friday.

He is scheduled for a July 17 arraignment at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Los Angeles.

His attorney couldn’t be reached for comment on Friday afternoon.

The case stems from what happened June 17 in the parking lot on Washington Boulevard. Martinez, 20, works at the Walmart in the shopping center.

Nicholas DeSimone, the resident agent in Charge of the HSI Integrated Operations Group Task Force, wrote in the statement that on June 18 he reviewed video obtained via social media posts and through news media and discussed the incident with U.S. Border Patrol personnel.

Border Patrol agents entered the parking lot around 8:45 a.m., saw two people run away from them, he said, adding agents were able to arrest one who they determined was in the country illegally.

While agents were arresting that person, Martinez was driving nearby in a black sedan.

“Martinez stopped his vehicle, exited it, and confronted the agents. Several other individuals also stopped their vehicles and parked near (the) agents, partially blocking the lanes in the parking lot as the agents attempted to leave the area with the arrestee,”  DeSimone said. “The bystanders collectively honked at the agents and shouted at them, yelling at the agents to leave the area.”

The agents couldn’t leave because their white pickup was blocked by other vehicles belonging to Martinez and the bystanders, he said.

Martinez stood in front of the Border Patrol vehicle and at one point moved a trash can in front of it, DeSimone said.

Other Border Patrol agents arrived. About a minute later, he said, the Border Patrol vehicle was able to leave.

“Based on my review of the video footage and my conversations with USBP personnel, it appears that multiple individuals, including Martinez, were displeased with USBP’s presence and activities at the shopping center in Pico Rivera and acted in concert to interfere with the USBP agents in the discharge of their duties, including by temporarily blocking the USBP agents’ free passage and ability to depart the scene,” DeSimone said.

The video from Aguas Tijuana’s Juice Bar shows at the beginning, a white pickup can be seen following someone pushing a trash can. The man runs, and gets caught by one agent, who brings him back toward the pickup.

A black car pulls up and Martinez gets out. He walks up to the pickup. There are other vehicles that pull up near the white pickup. Martinez later puts the trash can in front of the pickup.

But the video also shows what DeSimone didn’t mention in his statement. One agent shoves the trash can, which falls, and then he shoves Martinez to the ground. Other agents approach Martinez, who gets shoved down again. Later, other agents wrestle Martinez to the ground, and they take him away.

Senator Bob Archuleta, D-Pico Rivera, said in a statement that he has spoken with Martinez’s mother and assured her he has put a team together to assist her family.

“The Martinez family has asked me to convey their gratitude for the outpouring of support from the public,” he said.

He submitted Martinez’s birth certificate to Sheriff’s officials and federal agencies to prove Martinez’s citizenship, and to request his immediate release, he said, adding an attorney has also been provided, pro bono, to work on the Pico Rivera man’s release from custody.

“There are a multitude of eyewitnesses who say Adrian was observing the actions of ICE and CBP agents during a work break in the business’ parking lot. These actions by the federal government raise serious civil rights concerns, including possible racial profiling and questionable procedures in detaining someone,” Archuleta said.

“These enforcement actions have instilled alarm throughout our community. No one should live in constant fear of being wrongfully targeted.”

On Tuesday, federal officers arrested the 20-year-old Martinez on suspicion of punching a Border Patrol agent in the face when he allegedly interfered while they were trying to arrest an undocumented immigrant at the Lowe’s parking lot in the 8600 block of Washington Boulevard in Pico Rivera.

Martinez’s sister, Alyssa Garcia, said he didn’t know the man.

“He was trying to help him,” she said. “All he was doing was speaking up.”‘

She doesn’t understand what federal officers did to her brother, who is a U.S. citizen, she said.

“My brother always had a good heart,” Garcia said.

Federal authorities on Thursday didn’t answer questions on where Martinez is now. It wasn’t clear when he will be charged. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday.

But their mother found out he was being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, according to Garcia. They haven’t been able to talk to him, she said.

Martinez has been working at the Walmart in Pico Rivera for four months, she said. The Walmart is near the Lowe’s.

On Tuesday, federal agents conducted raids in Pico Rivera.

While Border Patrol agents were arresting an undocumented immigrant at the Lowe’s, they were confronted by a group that tried to interfere, a Customs and Border Patrol spokesperson said in a Wednesday statement.

An agent was punched in the face and another agent was hit in the arm by one person in the group, the statement said, adding the person was taken into custody.

“The videos are missing critical moments and don’t tell the whole story,” the spokesperson said.

One cell phone video shows a man wearing a Walmart vest appear to talk to an officer who pushed him back. Three to four other officers wrestled the man to the ground. He was arrested.

The raids and the video led to residents protesting.

U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli posted a picture of the man arrested on X and identified him as Martinez.

“I will repeat, if you impede our agents or strike them, you will end up in handcuffs facing federal criminal charges. Don’t do it,” Essayli wrote in his post.

Martinez’s family and a witness contradicted the federal authorities’ version of events.

They have a lot of videos, Garcia said, adding officers started initiating the pushing and hitting.

Her brother didn’t make a fist, she said. Martinez held one of the officers’ arm in order not to fall down, she said.

“He was surrounded and manhandled simply for speaking up. He did not touch or threaten any officer, they initiated the force. They threw him around like he didn’t matter, and now my family is left to pick up the pieces,” Garcia wrote in the GoFundMe she created to raise money to cover legal expenses for her brother.

Oscar Preciado, who recorded the video, told CBS, that Martinez told the agents they needed a warrant to arrest an older man and that he only saw Martinez talking to the agents.

The third child in a family with five children, Martinez is an alumnus of El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera, Garcia said

“This is our hometown. We were raised here,” she said.

In addition to working at Walmart, Martinez is also trying to get a trucking license, Garcia said. Her brother doesn’t have a criminal record, she added.

Gabriel Esparza couldn’t get an erection. He saw a work truck down the road, put 19-year-old Andrea Vazquez of Downey back in his pickup, drove to a field, pulled her out and started dragging her, Whittier police Sgt. Jose Bolanos testified Wednesday, June 4, during the second day of Esparza’s preliminary hearing held in a Los Angeles courtroom.

“She was still talking. Talking, screaming and saying the name ‘Juju’,” Bolanos said.

“Juju” is a nickname for Julian Gonzalez, who was Vazquez’s boyfriend. The couple was hanging out at Penn Park when Esparza spotted them. He drove to two other parks before returning to Penn Park.

Vazquez’s body was found in that Moreno Valley field the night of Aug. 21, 2023. Esparza was with investigators and officers when they went there.

At the hearing Wednesday, Judge George G. Lomeli found there was enough evidence for Esparza to go to trial.

Esparza’s next court date is June 18. He has been charged with murder, attempted murder, kidnapping to commit another crime, kidnapping, assault with intent to rape and two counts of attempted rape by force.

He was also charged with the special circumstance allegations of murder during the course of a kidnapping and murder during the course of an attempted rape as well as the allegation he personally used a rifle while committing the crimes.

“So my client gave you a full confession?,” Esparza’s attorney, Ambrosio Rodriguez, asked Bolanos.

Rodriguez also asked the detective if he had to convince Esparza to take them to the victim’s body or if Esparza volunteered.

Esparza was willing to do so, Bolanos said.

But while Esparza may have revealed what happened on Aug. 20, 2023, the motive behind his actions is still unknown.

“He never said why,” Bolanos said after the hearing.

Vazquez’s family and friends filled the courtroom for the second day. Several of them cried, one gasped as Bolanos recounted what Esparza told him.

At one point, Esparza could be seen shaking. His attorney put a hand on his shoulder.

On Aug. 19, 2023, Esparza told Bolanos he went to work, arrived home around 6 or 7 p.m. then intended to sleep and go to bed. But a few moments later, he put on more clothing, went to an adjacent bedroom where he took a rifle then went out via a bedroom window, Bolanos said.

He used the window in order not to cause the dogs to bark or set off cameras, the sergeant added.

Esparza went to Michigan Park, Penn Park, Parnell Park (all in Whittier), Oak Creek Park in La Mirada then back to Penn Park where he had seen Gonzalez and Vazquez.

He drove past the couple, then went to a residential area where he removed the Tacoma’s rear license plate, Bolanos said.

Gonzalez testified on Tuesday that he and Vazquez were sitting on the trunk of his parked Accord when a white pickup stopped in front of his car.

Esparza picked up the rifle and fired from the window at Vazquez, Bolanos said.

Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman asked Bolanos if Esparza told him he was aiming for Vazquez’s head.

“Yes,” the sergeant said.

Vazquez fell. Esparza got out of the pickup, advanced on Gonzalez, who began running to the park, Bolanos said.

“He aimed the rifle, raised it and fired it at the male. He then grabbed the female who was crying,” Bolanos said.

Esparza put Vazquez in the truck bed and drove eastbound.

“He said he could hear the female crying from the bed of the truck. He pulled over in a residential area and fired another round,” Bolanos said, adding Esparza stuck the rifle in the tailgate.

He continued driving. In Moreno Valley, Esparza threw the victim’s phone and tried to rape her twice, according to the sergeant.

After leaving Vazquez in a field, Esparza removed his outer clothing and put it in a trash bag, Bolanos said. He headed to a Chevron station and used his Discover card to get gas. He also used wipes on himself.

He pulled over in Hacienda Heights and reattached the rear license plate, went home, placed the rifle back in its camouflage bag and went to sleep, the sergeant said.

Esparza went to work the next two days, he said. The victim’s blood was still in the truck bed and the trash bag containing his clothing and a pair of shoes with blood stains were in the truck.

Gonzalez had described the pickup and the shooter to police. He had also picked Esparza’s photo when police presented him with six photos of men.

Details of how police identified and caught Esparza came out during the hearing.

Whittier police asked Riverside to check their city-wide cameras. The camera recorded the Tacoma going through an intersection.

They also got video from the Chevron station in Moreno Valley where Esparza bought gas. The receipt showed the last four digits of the Discover card and an address, which led detectives to Esparza.

On Aug. 21, 2023, officers served search warrants at his home and at the Pep Boys at 5453 Del Amo Blvd. where he worked. His white Tacoma was at his job as well as his wallet that had the Discover card.

Detective Rudy Perez testified they found three rifles, two handguns and ammunition at the house. Two of the rifles were each stored in a camouflage bag.

“They were in a closet in the guest bedroom. Unlocked and unsecured,” Perez said, adding these two rifles were not loaded and one had a magazine attached.

Testing showed one of the rifles was used to shoot Vazquez, Silverman said.

Esparza’s DNA was on the rifle while Vazquez’s DNA matched to blood stains at the park, where she was found in Moreno Valley and in the Tacoma, she said.

After they found Vazquez’s body, detectives also searched for her cell phone that night but didn’t find it. They later searched again and found her phone.

This was the first time they heard the details of what Vazquez went through, her sister, Edlyn Vazquez, said after the hearing.

“She suffered so much,” Edlyn Vazquez said. “She cried her boyfriend’s name. She was looking for him.”

“That’s when I heard shots,” he said.

For update, see: Whittier man confessed to kidnapping, slaying Fullerton College student, detective testifies

Gonzalez turned around and saw 19-year-old Vazquez lying on the ground. She was bleeding above her neck, close to the face, he said.

Gonzalez testified about what happened to them on Aug. 20, 2023 during Tuesday’s preliminary hearing for Gabriel Sean Esparza, the Whittier man accused of kidnapping Vazquez, trying to rape the Fullerton College student and killing her.

Her body was found Aug. 21, 2023 lying facedown in a field off Alessandro Boulevard and Merwin Street in Moreno Valley. She wore only a black top with her pants and underwear pulled down to her ankles.

Photos of Vazquez as she was discovered were shown in a court filled with her family and friends. Several of them cried.

Four bullet fragments were recovered from her brain, Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said, adding the coroner ruled Vazquez died from a gunshot wound to the forehead.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged Esparza with the murder of Vazquez, the attempted murder of her boyfriend as well as kidnapping to commit another crime, kidnapping, assault with intent to rape and two counts of attempted rape by force.

He was also charged with the special circumstance allegations of murder during the course of a kidnapping and murder during the course of an attempted rape as well as the allegation he personally used a rifle while committing the crimes.

Esparza has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied the allegations. If convicted, he faces a possible maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.

Gonzalez, who was dating Vazquez, said he picked her up at her Downey home on Aug. 19, 2023. They went to a Starbucks in Downey, a parking structure in Whittier, then Penn Park at 13950 Penn St. in Whittier. Gonzalez backed into a parking stall. His Accord was facing Penn Street.

Then the white Toyota showed up. After the gunshots, Gonzalez ducked.

“That’s when I heard the door (of the pickup) open,” he said, adding he peeked and saw the driver holding a gun coming towards him. Gonzalez made eye contact with the man who pointed the gun at him.

Gonzalez ran and went into the park. When he returned, he saw the pickup was still there; Then the driver took off. He heard tires screeching.

“Andrea, she wasn’t there. She was gone,” he said. Gonzalez noticed a puddle of blood where he last saw her.

He saw people and told them to call police. He tried to call Vazquez’s sister, Edlyn, then called police. He went back to Vazquez’s home.

“I just wanted to let the family know right away,” Gonzalez said.

Alejandro Rico was outside a home on Canyon Crest Road, directly above Penn Park, around 12:20 a.m. on Aug. 20, 2023. He said he was cleaning up after a barbecue and heard two gunshots. He said he climbed up a wall, looked over, saw a coyote running and a white Toyota truck with the driver’s side open. It had a black cover on the truck bed and tinted windows.

He saw the driver come out, go to the back passenger side, open it, and throw something. The driver also went to the bed of the truck. He heard the truck take off.

He also saw a couple running and a Camry and black Accord take off pretty fast, Rico said. He thought these were probably related to the white Toyota that sped off.

Whittier Police Detective Tom Nordbak, who is one of the investigators in the case, later showed Rico a photo of a white Tacoma taken by a security camera near a Chevron station in Moreno Valley. Rico told the detective it looked like the vehicle he saw.

Esparza was arrested the afternoon of Aug. 21, 2023 at his job in Lakewood. Detectives also seized a gun and his Tacoma.

Nordbak went to Moreno Valley with Esparza, other detectives and officers around 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 21, 2023.

“It was an area his cell phone pinged at,” said Nordbak, who described the area as desolate with a small road. They had Esparza walk them to the area he was familiar with, he said.

The police spread out and did a grid search. They found Vazquez.

They went to another spot where Esparza said he threw Vazquez’s phone, Nordbak said. They searched but didn’t find the phone, he added.

Edlyn Vazquez was part of the big group that showed up for the hearing and filled the courtroom.

“I don’t tell anyone to come. They came on their own,” she said, adding it shows how much her sister was loved.

She plans to be in court every single day, she said.

“I don’t want to miss anything and I want to make sure I hear everything myself,” Edlyn Vazquez said.

The hearing, held at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, continues Wednesday.

Eduardo Roberto Medina-Berumen, 22, who was shot by at least one other officer, remained under guard at a hospital as of Monday, June 2, sheriff’s Lt. Michael Modica said.

He was arrested and booked on suspicion of two counts of murder, Modica said, with his bail set at $4 million.

Baldwin Park shootings leave police officer and another victim dead, 2nd officer wounded

Court records show no prior convictions for Medina-Berumen in Los Angeles County.

When reached by phone, Medina-Berumen’s father declined to be interviewed.

Investigators haven’t unveiled a possible motive for the motive behind the shootings that broke out on the 4200 block of Filhurst Avenue on Saturday night.

Baldwin Park police initially got a call at 7:12 p.m. about a male with a rifle shooting rounds, Modica said, adding it was quickly updated to a “person down” call.

A man who was visiting someone on Filhurst Avenue had been shot by the suspect, the lieutenant said. The two men did not know each other.

Public invited to vigil to honor fallen Baldwin Park officer

Media reports claimed there had been a dispute between the victim and the suspect over parking. “We have nothing to say that is true,” Modica said.

Officers Samuel Riveros and Anthony Pimentel headed to the neighborhood.

“As soon as they drove onto the street, he (suspect) began engaging them,” Modica said.

The officers weren’t able to fire back, the lieutenant said, declining to say how many other officers shot at Medina-Berumen.

Riveros and Pimentel were taken to a hospital. Riveros, 35, of Pasadena, died of a gunshot wound to the head, according to the medical examiner’s office. Pimentel was released from the hospital on Sunday.

On Sunday afternoon, lying on the sidewalk in front of a Filhurst house was a large piece of dark, broken glass. Modica said it came from a vehicle that had been hit in the shooting.

Riveros had been with the Baldwin Park Police Department for nine years. He was on the SWAT team and became a field-training officer on July 21, 2024. He wasn’t married and didn’t have children, according to Baldwin Park police Capt. Joshua Hendricks.

The civilian who was killed was identified Monday by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner as 43-year-old Darius Wong.

Detectives asked anyone with information about the case to call the sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Anonymous tipsters can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or go to lacrimestoppers.org

City News Service contributed to this story.