Multiple-Homicide Suspect Shot by Officers NR13076rf

***UPDATE***

March 14, 2013Updated Release: The officer involved in the below officer-involved shooting has been identified as Police Officer II Francisco Zaragoza.

Los Angeles: LAPD Southeast Area officers responding to a shooting call immediately discovered a man suffering from gunshot wounds in a pickup truck. Later, officers also found another victim inside a nearby residence, along with a suspect. Both had also been shot.

On March 8, 2013, around 2:20 a.m., officers were called to a residence in the 11500 block of Grape Street where they discovered a man in a pickup truck who had been shot. A short time later, they were directed to a suspect, 33-year-old Henry Salcedo, who was standing just inside the residence. As the officers approached Salcedo to make contact, he displayed a gun, pointed it at the officers and an officer-involved shooting occurred.

The suspect then retreated into the residence and the LAPD SWAT Team was summoned for negotiation assistance. Before the team arrived, Salcedo continued to shoot at the officers from inside the residence. About 4:15 a.m., a child emerged and informed officers that both his parents had been shot. Soon after, Salcedo was pronounced dead at the scene, and a woman who was later determined to be the child’s mother, died at a local hospital.

During the Los Angeles County Coroner’s subsequent examination of Salcedo’s body, it was determined his gunshot wound(s), initially believed to be self-inflicted, came from a shot an officer fired.

The three children in the residence, ages 1, 3 and 8, were not injured during the ordeal, nor were any officers. Eventually, the children were released into the custody of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

The investigation will ultimately be reviewed by the Chief of Police, Office of the Inspector General, and the Board of Police Commissioners for compliance with the Department’s use-of-force policy, which states that an officer’s use-of-force actions must be objectively reasonable. Additionally, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Justice System Integrity Division will conduct a comprehensive review of the facts of the officer-involved shooting.