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Unbelievable
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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A toddler girl was shot and killed when her intoxicated father used her as a shield during a fiery gunbattle with police following a standoff that lasted three hours, authorities said.
Police Chief William Bratton said Monday that his officers were well within department policy when they shot car wash owner Jose Raul Lemos on Sunday. Lemos also was killed; an officer was shot in the shoulder but was expected to recover.
''You aren't going to stand there with somebody shooting at you,'' Bratton said. ''The person responsible for any loss of life ... was the individual who held his child out as a shield and continued to shoot.''
The 19-month-old child's mother, Lorena Lopez, said she pleaded with officers to hold their fire.
''He had problems with depression, his business was not doing well,'' Lopez told KNBC-TV. ''I told them that he needed help, he needs a psychologist, but please don't shoot. They didn't understand, and the police fired, like, 300 shots.''
Autopsies will determine whether the bullet that killed the toddler was fired by police or her father. Police spokesman Kevin Maiberger said 11 officers fired during the standoff, but it was not immediately known how many shots they took.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the officers were only trying to protect themselves and the public.
''My heart is out to a grieving mother who's lost her child. My heart is also out to those officers who put their lives on the line,'' Villaraigosa said. ''Not a one of them went into that situation with the intent to hurt anyone. They were doing their jobs.''
The standoff started when officers were called to an intersection in South Los Angeles west of Watts where Lemos was behaving erratically and aggressively.
He fired at the officers and ran inside a fenced area that included his apartment and his car wash and detailing business. He had a 9 mm handgun and a shotgun and was intoxicated on drugs and alcohol, police said.
Police called in a SWAT team and tried to talk to the man. At one point, as officers helped a neighbor escape, he fired at them and they fired back, police said.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A toddler who was killed in a gunbattle between a suspect and police was being used by the man as a shield, officials said. The suspect also died and an officer was wounded.
The man killed Sunday night after an hours-long standoff was identified as Jose Raul Lemos, and the girl, about 17 months old, was related to him, police said. The officer, who was not immediately identified, was shot in the shoulder and was expected to recover.
''He was using the baby as a shield,'' Assistant Police Chief Jim McDonnell.
''We showed a tremendous amount of restraint, but unfortunately the suspect's actions dictated this,'' he said. ''It's a true tragedy.''
It was unclear who fired the shot that hit the girl, but officers were struggling with the thought that they killed a baby, he said.
''The officers are taking it very hard,'' McDonnell said. ''Anytime you have a baby killed, it takes its toll.''
The standoff began at around 3:50 p.m. when officers responded to an area in South Los Angeles west of Watts after residents reported an armed man standing near an intersection with a toddler and behaving erratically and aggressively.
There were three exchanges of gunfire between police and Lemos, who was about 35, McDonnell told reporters. In the final exchange, at around 6:20 p.m., Lemos held the girl as he shot.
''We did everything we could to hold our fire,'' McDonnell said.
At one point, Lemos retreated into an apartment building, where police said he held the girl hostage.
Police called in a SWAT team and tried to speak with the man; when they at one point attempted to help a neighbor escape the area, he fired at them and they fired back, McDonnell said.
Under police regulations, officers may only fire ''when it reasonably appears necessary'' to protect themselves or others from death or serious injury.
The man had a 9 mm handgun and a shotgun and was intoxicated on drugs and alcohol, police said.
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At this point, we're not even sure whether it was a bullet from an police officers gun or a bullet from the fathers gun that killed the child. What we do know is that an officer was shot, that the police had three exchanges of gunfire with this guy, that the guy was unstable, and that the officers acted in accordance with LAPD policy and the law.
As far as less lethal options, keep in mind that you have to get within tazer range with this guy firing real bulletts at you in order to taze him, and when you taze him, all his muscles contract (including his trigger finger), he immediately falls to the ground (while holding the baby in his arms), and you also taze the baby. If you use a bean bag round fired from a shotgun, you run the risk of injuring the baby, and not hitting the suspect. If you intentionally shoot him in the leg, you not only violate department policies and likely lose your job, but all you have accomplished is pissing the suspect off. Getting shot in the leg does not magically immobilize a person.The police acted appropriatley in this situation, they did exactly what they were trained to do. As horrifying as it is to me that this little child was tragically murdered, she was not murdered by the police, she was murdered by her own father. |