Gangster killed by cops had fatally shot friend

By Rick Coca, Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 04/03/2008 06:17:47 AM PDT


Click photo to enlargeDaniel Gonzalez«1»GLENDALE - Two hours before he was shot and killed by police in a brazen gunbattle that left an officer injured, a gang member and recent parolee fatally shot a friend after an argument, authorities said Tuesday.

Daniel "Danny Boy" Gonzalez, 28, of Los Angeles, a member of the Clover gang, killed Jose Garcia, 29, a member of the same gang, about 7:15 p.m. Monday, said Los Angeles police Detective Jose Carrillo.

Gonzalez "arms himself with the same handgun he shoots at the officers in Glendale with, (and) he shoots his friend," Carrillo said.

Gonzalez was released just weeks ago from state prison, where he served time for carjacking and attempted murder stemming from a 1997 case, police said.

This time around, he left his friend dead, police ducking for cover and neighbors and nearby merchants scrambling in fear.

"This was a run-and-gun battle," said Officer John Balian, spokesman for the Glendale Police Department. "This guy was either trying to kill an officer or didn't want to get caught."

After the Highland Park shooting, somebody dropped Gonzalez off in Glendale, where unbeknown to police, he was armed with a handgun and extra ammunition.

The gunbattle took place after an officer, suspicious that Gonzalez might be casing closed commercial businesses for burglary, got out of his patrol car about 9:30 p.m. and approached him on Adams Street near Colorado Street, Balian said.

"They make eye contact. (Gonzalez) begins to take a few steps and takes a shot at the officer," he said. "The bullet goes right over his head."
As the officer took cover and radioed for backup, he watched Gonzalez run south on Adams before heading east on Elk Avenue.

Once Gonzalez got to Elk and Chevy Chase Drive, he hid in some bushes in front of a two-story home on the northwest corner. Two officers, who drove up in their patrol cars, got out and were ambushed, Balian said.

"He starts shooting at the officers from the bushes," he said. "They see muzzle flashes."

As the officers shot back, one of them was hit in the chest - but was wearing a bulletproof vest, which saved his life, Balian said.

"He was very lucky," said Glendale police Sgt. Tom Lorenz. The officer, who was not identified, was taken to a local hospital and was released Tuesday morning.

Gonzalez then ran north on Chevy Chase toward Colorado. Another officer in a patrol car cut him off in the driveway of a small house in the 300 block of Chevy Chase, about 100 yards short of the busy intersection.

Gonzalez shot at that officer, blasting two bullet holes through the front windshield of his squad car and shattering the rear window. The officer, a sergeant with more than 15 years on the job, fired back, killing Gonzalez, Balian said.

That officer's name has not been released and he has been placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard. The shooting is being investigated by Glendale police.

Gonzalez was killed in the driveway of Rosana Pilavian's home, where she and her husband live with their three small daughters, 18-month-old twins and a 3-year-old.

When she heard the rapid-fire volley of gunfire outside her door, Pilavian, 23, grabbed her daughters and hid in a closet.

"She hit her head on the door of the closet," Pilavian said in Spanish, pointing to one of her twins. "Poor thing."

Reyna Romero, 39, who also lives in the home and helps take care of the three children, said even during her native El Salvador's civil war, the violence never got so close as it did Monday night.

"Never before on my street," Romero said.

Working the night shift Monday at the Burger King at Colorado and Chevy Chase, Ashley Marx went from passing back change on a $3.14 Big Fish sandwich to fearing for her life.

Marx, an assistant manager, said she was alerted to the shooting by a customer in the drive-through line.

"`Did you hear the shots back there?"' she said the man told her. "And immediately I heard shots," Marx said.

As one female customer inside the restaurant hit the ground and an employee who had been outside ran in saying she saw somebody running in the darkness with a gun in his hand, Marx quickly locked the doors and had everybody take cover behind the counter.

"One customer said his car had been hit by something," Marx said.

And in a surreal end to the night, Gonzalez died in a driveway just feet from a nearby business - Advent Tombstones Monuments.

rick.coca@dailynews.com 818-546-3304

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