Thread: Man in LA SWAT Gun Battle Was Illegal Alien

Does the L.A. Times usually have such an approach when dealing with "undocumented" criminals? I thought they usually would blame cops in their stories/editorials.

Originally Posted by nhantimassredrebel

Does the L.A. Times usually have such an approach when dealing with "undocumented" criminals? I thought they usually would blame cops in their stories/editorials.

The LA Times is usually a very PC left leaning paper. I think in this case no matter how you try and spin it the police were not the bad guys in most people's minds.

Found a couple of more articles.

www.nationalreview.com

July 22, 2005, 8:24 a.m.
A Little Less Sensitivity, Please
The L.A. Times lectures William Bratton for telling the truth.



A Los Angeles Times editorial published Thursday took LAPD Chief William Bratton to task for being “insensitive, even callous� in his remarks following a July 10 police standoff in Watts, a section of South-Central Los Angeles. The standoff ended in the death of 19-month-old Suzie Marie Peña, who was being held hostage by her father, Jose Raul Peña. Both were killed by gunfire from SWAT officers making an ill-fated attempt to rescue the child. Video images from a security system inside Peña’s used-car dealership show him using his daughter as a shield, holding her in one hand while firing a semi-automatic pistol at officers with the other. A police officer was also wounded in the gun battle.

With the mayoral campaign and its demands for decorum now in the past, Bratton is once again the blunt-spoken man he was as commissioner of the NYPD and in his first two years with the LAPD. Speaking at a July 12 news conference, the chief was unreserved in his condemnation of Peña, whom he labeled a “cold-blooded killer.�

“Mr. Peña is not a good man,â€? Bratton said. “He is not a loving, caring father under any circumstances. You don’t threaten to kill your wife. You don’t attempt to kill your 17-year-old daughter. You don’t threaten to kill your . . . baby and hold that baby as a shield. So all this nonsense â€â€

A few more articles from the LA Times.

www.latimes.com

Knee-jerk activists and their tantrum politics
By Joe R. Hicks
Joe R. Hicks is vice president of Community Advocates Inc.

July 24, 2005

Los Angeles has experienced a number of troubling policing "crises" over the last year and a half, all exploited to the hilt by activists and so-called community leaders. To say that these people "pimp" tragedy is not an overreach, or hyperbole. City officials must stop pretending that these activists are "the voice of the community." They speak for no one.

On a regular basis, these activists brand the police as racists, brutes, killers and worse â€â€

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/03/toddler.autopsy/

Autopsy: Toddler hit twice by LAPD
Report details wounds suffered in police shootout with father
From Stan Wilson
CNN



LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A toddler girl suffered two gunshot wounds from Los Angeles police -- one of them blowing out most of her brain -- during officers' standoff with her father last month, an autopsy report concluded.

Suzie Marie Lopez died as a result of a high-velocity rifle wound to her head fired from a distance, a medical examination found, while her father reportedly held the 19-month-old girl on his right side during a gunfire exchange with police.

The child, who weighed 20 pounds, also was shot in the leg. Both bullets traveled through her body, and several minor fragment wounds were detected on the surface of her lower and upper extremities, according to the autopsy report, which was released Tuesday.

SWAT members of the Los Angeles Police Department fired up to 60 rounds when they stormed a business where Jose Raul Pena barricaded himself while holding his daughter as a "human shield," police said.

Pena, 34, died of multiple gunshot wounds during the failed rescue attempt.

The 2 1/2-hour standoff began with a 911 disturbance call when Pena's estranged common-law wife accused him of threatening her, the toddler and a stepdaughter, according to police.

The autopsy report found no evidence that the toddler had suffered previous physical abuse.

Pena began shooting at police when officers arrived at the scene. He eventually unleashed 40 shots, while police fired more than 100 rounds throughout the ordeal, which included a failed negotiation effort.

When SWAT members decided to make a rescue of the girl, Pena fired through the walls of his office, wounding one officer who managed to toss a diversionary explosive device into the room, police said.

After officers fired repeatedly into the room, Pena and the infant were found dead, with an empty 9-mm handgun resting in the father's hand, police said.

Authorities haven't determined which officer's weapon killed the infant. The medical examination foundno projectiles in the girl's body, the report said.

A complete police investigation into the shooting will be presented to the Los Angeles district attorney's office and the police department's use-of-force board, which ultimately will make recommendations on the tactical decisions made during the standoff.

In earlier statements, Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton blamed Pena solely for the death of his daughter and found no evidence in the preliminary investigation that pointed to any criminal wrongdoing by police officers.

Last month's ordeal was the second time in the SWAT team's 38-year history that a hostage died during a standoff, police said. In the early 1970s, a hostage-taker killed the victim, according to police.