Officer-Involved Shooting in the Mission Area NR13459ne

October 22, 2013

***Updated*** The officer involved in the below officer-involved shooting has been identified as Police Officer II Samuel Blanco.

Los Angeles: On October 11, 2013, at around 6:20 a.m., Mission Area patrol officers and a sergeant responded to a “Violent Male Mental” radio call in the 12700 of Shenley Street.

When the officers arrived they met with the parents of the suspect, later identified as Ernesto Lopez. The parents advised the officers that Lopez had vandalized their vehicle and residence and had threatened to kill them. They also told the officers that the suspect was in a camper shell located in the driveway. The sergeant formulated a tactical plan to take Lopez into custody. Officers repeatedly attempted to verbally order Lopez out of the camper shell without success. The suspect opened the door from the inside, armed with a hammer. As the suspect prepared to throw the hammer at an officer an officer-involved shooting occurred. After throwing the hammer, Lopez remained standing in the doorway cursing the officers at which time one of the officers’ fired one beanbag round at the suspect which did not appear to have an effect on him. Another officer deployed a TASER which, again, did not appear to affect Lopez. A second beanbag round was fired which struck him and at that time he was taken into custody without further incident.

The suspect was not struck by the gunfire and no officers were injured. However, Lopez was transported to a local hospital for psychological evaluation. The hammer was recovered from the middle of the street.

Los Angeles Police Department Force Investigation Division (FID) responded to the incident and will be handling the investigation of the officer-involved shooting.

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.

Anyone with information is asked to call Force Investigation Division at (213) 486-5230. During non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (877-527-3247). Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477). Tipsters may also contact Crime Stoppers by texting to phone number 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S on most keypads) with a cell phone. All text messages should begin with the letters “LAPD.” Tipsters may also go to LAPDOnline.org, click on “webtips” and follow the prompts.