The LAPD released new details today about the shooting:
The department also revealed further details of the bloody shootout in Watts, which resulted in the deaths of Pena and his young daughter, Suzie Marie, and the wounding of LAPD Officer Daniel Sanchez. The 35-year-old car dealer used a stolen gun during the incident, and had a plastic bag of cocaine with him, police said.
They released the video tape yesterday to dispel the families accusations that he wasn’t using the child as a shield and he wasn’t armed.
“We are being accused of executing him for no reason at all. It is not true,” Assistant Chief George Gascon said at a news conference.
The pictures were “offered to reassure the public that the department is being as transparent as possible,” he said. “We realize the family is grieving and experiencing incredible loss, but rumors serve only to promote distrust.”
Of course this wondissuadeade the family from making other accusations, lots of money to be made for them.
Even more disgusting, but not surprising, the Grand Idiot Poo-Bah Maxine Waters uttered these words:
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) released a written statement expressing sympathy for the family and adding: “I just wonder if 11 well-trained police officers, including some from the sharp-shooting elite SWAT team could not have disabled this supposedly crazy and confused man.”
And there ya have it. The perfect example of someone who has watched waaaayyyy too many movies and believes them to be reality. Sure, we could of thrown in a “freeze” grenade that freezes all motion, then we could have blasted him with a stun beam from our phaser. Sigh.
The LAPD has also released additional facts about the end of the incident:
Near the close of the incident, a SWAT officer on the turret of an armored vehicle saw the suspect in the back door of the dealership and “believed he had a clear shot at him,” Bratton has said.
Pena was only partially visible. According to investigators, it remains unclear whether he was still holding the child. A rescue team was standing by, and the SWAT officer fired.
Believing Pena was wounded, team members ran inside to get Suzie, but once in, they realized that Pena had retreated to the interior office and was shooting at them through drywall.
Officer Sanchez was in front of the group. He reached the threshold of the office, threw a smoke grenade, then was struck by a bullet and fell.
The other officers crowded in, and multiple shots were fired by both sides.
When the shots ceased, Pena lay dead by the small office desk with blood splattered behind him, and the child lay near the door with a large head wound.
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