Honoring Sgt. Steve Owen
Deputies mark anniversary of shooting with 24-hour vigil
LANCASTER — Deputies lined the sidewalk early Monday morning in front of the apartment complex on Avenue J-8. It’s something they’ve been doing yearly since Sgt. Steve Owen with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Lancaster Station, was gunned down while responding to a burglary call.
On Oct. 5, 2016, Owen, 53, was shot in the carport of the apartment complex near 32nd Street West and Avenue J-8, where a burglary had been reported.
A 27-year-old (at the time) ex-convict who was on parole for a 2009 robbery in Los Angeles, and who had been arrested at least three times in the last 13 months, was captured 90 minutes later, after allegedly breaking into a nearby home, in an effort to hide.
According to past Antelope Valley Press reports, Owen was a 29-year Sheriff’s Department veteran who had spent nearly 25 years working in the Antelope Valley.
He worked as a school liaison deputy, a patrol deputy and a gang detective. He was a detective at the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station before being promoted, in 2014, to a sergeant working with the
Lancaster Sheriff’s Station deputies on patrol and with Lancaster’s anti-burglary unit.
Owen was an accomplished horseman and was a member of the Sheriff’s Department mounted unit. A monument of a horse was erected at the beginning of this year, in his honor at the park bearing his name. The horse was placed facing west, into the sunset, with its head turned slightly to the right, looking northwest, toward 30th Street West and Avenue K, where Owen was killed in the line of duty.
In addition, a stretch of the Antelope Valley Freeway near Rayburn Road and Avenue S is dedicated as Sgt. Steven C. Owen Los Angeles County
Sheriff Memorial Highway.
“As the sun comes up on October 5th, it’s hard to believe it has been 4 years since we lost our friend,” a post on the Lancaster Station’s Facebook page said. “On October 5, 2016, Sergeant Steve Owen, a 27 year veteran of our department was killed in the line of duty. Sergeant Owen was shot when he encountered a suspect as he was responding to a burglary in progress call. Sergeant Owen was one of a kind. Bigger than life. Faster than fast. Kinder than kind. He spoke to violent gang members in the same way and with the same respect he spoke to elderly grandmothers. The radio traffic of ‘Officer down’ still echoes in the hallway of our station.”
Lancaster Station Public
Information Officer Ali Villalobos said the magnitude of losing Owen is still felt in the community and within Lancaster Station.
“He was an incredible partner, friend and leader,” she said in an email statement. “We continue pray for peace officers across the country. Lancaster Station would like to thank our community for their endless support.”
Deputies from Palmdale Station joined their Lancaster colleagues for shifts, standing to honor Owen.
“Today our thoughts are with our sister station, Lancaster Sheriff’s Station, as they remember and honor the life of Sgt. Steve Owen,” a post on the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station Facebook page said. “... He was a pillar of society, a man of God, a role model to the community, loved by all his partners and all around the most kind and thoughtful person we had the honor of knowing.”
The public was invited to pay their respects to him and join the deputies as they stood vigil for 24 hours.