Downey police Officer Ricardo Galvez had just attended a training session and was sitting in his parked car in the police station’s parking lot. Two men approached his vehicle and opened fire, killing Galvez before getting in a vehicle driven by a third man and speeding away.
“It appears that this officer was targeted,” said Lt. John Corina of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. “It doesn’t look like it was random.”
Two male suspects ran toward Galvez about 11:08 p.m. Wednesday as he was seated in the driver’s seat of his vehicle at the Downey Police Department’s west parking lot in the 10900 block of Brookshire Avenue, said homicide Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The men fired at Galvez, killing him, Corina said. After shooting at the officer, the two got into a vehicle and fled, he said.
A Downey officer driving in the area heard the shots and followed the suspects’ vehicle into Montebello, Corina said, but they ran from the vehicle near Washington Boulevard and Carob Way.
A search for the men was underway Thursday morning, Corina said. Three people were detained, and authorities were searching for at least one more person, he said.
According to this updated TV report from KTLA, five suspects have been detained, including a white female. The station is also reporting that police believe the shooter may have known the officer.
The unmarried Galvez is a veteran with two tours behind him in Iraq. He joined the force four years ago.
The race of the attackers is hardly relevant. The anti-police rhetoric being spewed across the country gives license to open fire on police to those who either hold a personal grievance against an officer, or against police in general. When Black Lives Matter protesters chant “Pigs in a blanket. Fry ’em like bacon,” they do not scream that epithet in a vacuum. They have a very large megaphone in the press to amplify their words.
You would hope for some pushback against this kind of hate speech by politicians. But they are far too worried about being seen as opposing BLM to make a stand.
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