LAPD Shooting, Update IV

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The LAPD has released the names of those involved in the shooting and as you would guess the media has started its homework on the records of those involved:

In a written statement Wednesday afternoon, the LAPD gave the following names, which appear in the order of their involvement in the incident:

? John Rusth, 33, of the Southeast Division, a two-year LAPD veteran.

? Matthew Valencia, 33, Southeast Division, seven-year veteran.

? Samuel Marullo, 33, Southeast Division, eight-year veteran.

? Jeffrey Ennis, 38, Newton Division, 16-year veteran.

? Gina Holmstrom, 40, Metro K9, 15-year veteran.

? Benjamin Santero, 33, Southwest Division, nine-year veteran.

? Dennis O’Sullivan, 36, Metro K9, 15-year veteran.

? Robert Gallegos Jr., 36, Metro SWAT, 11-year veteran.

? Eduardo Perez, 33, Metro SWAT, 11-year veteran.

? William Casey, 46, Metro SWAT, 17-year veteran.

? Daniel Sanchez, 39, 15-year veteran.

Sanchez, the officer shot in the shoulder, was briefly hospitalized.

Police also released some details of the officers’ positions during the incident.

According to a partial database of LAPD disciplinary records compiled by The Times, none of the officers had ever been found to have acted “out of policy” in prior shooting incidents.

Six had been involved in previous shootings at suspects. Two of those officers had been in multiple shooting incidents.

The other five officers who fired weapons during the standoff had never before shot at a suspect.

Rusth, they said, shot at Pe?a while in front of the business. Valencia and Marullo shot at him while in the rear alley. Ennis, Holmstrom and Santero fired rounds during a rescue operation in which they succeeded in safely extracting a 16-year-old hostage from the parking lot of the dealership. O’Sullivan shot at Pe?a from the hatch of a Bearcat armored vehicle.

Gallegos, Perez, Casey and Sanchez fired their weapons after entering the office of the business in an attempt to rescue the toddler, police said. This was the final, chaotic phase of the incident in which Sanchez was wounded and the toddler most likely killed, according to Bratton.

In all cases, police have said that officers were returning fire.

Of all the officers, only O’Sullivan and Ennis have histories of shooting at suspects on more than one prior occasion. Most LAPD officers have not fired a weapon at a suspect ? as Casey, Perez, Rusth, Sanchez and Santero had not until the afternoon of July 10, according to the Times database.

That last sentence is just plain idiotic. You can bet the writer is just trying to create some kind of scandel by implying these two officers are trigger happy. Whether or not one of us gets involved in a shooting has many factors, most of them being whether the gangster/criminal you are coming in contact with is armed at that time. I have detained many gangsters with no incident only because they decided to not carry a firearm that day. Fellow Deputies have gone to detain that same guy but that day he was strapped and guess what?

To imply that these guys did something wrong by writing that sentence is just the same old lame attempt at blaming the Cops, not the criminal.

Lastly:

LAPD officials, while conceding that the identities of the officers were a matter of public record, gave several reasons for postponing the release in this case, including concerns for the officers’ safety and privacy.

But the reason cited most often was that the officers involved felt terrible about what had happened and that superiors were loath to make their situation harder.

After repeated verbal requests, The Times submitted a letter to the department July 14 asking for the names under the California Public Records Act.

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LAPD Shooting
LAPD Shooting, Update
LAPD Shooting, Update II
Al “Race Baiter” Sharpton
LAPD Shooting, Update III