Deputy fired six shots at man, 18, killing him, authorities say; video evidence sought
A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy fired six shots at 18-year-old Andres Guardado after a short foot pursuit, killing him near a carrelated business near Gardena where he hung out and volunteered his time to stop potential taggers, authorities said Saturday.
But sheriff’s investigators said they have not obtained video evidence of the shooting and, though they said Guardado was armed, it was unknown whether he pointed that weapon at deputies when he was confronted at the rear of the businesses in unincorporated Los Angeles County near Harbor Gateway on Thursday, Capt. Kent Wegener said.
Sheriff’s officials shared few additional details of the fatal confrontation during a news conference Saturday, a day after family and friends held a news conference at the scene of the shooting demanding justice.
Guardado’s family has asked for an independent investigation into the shooting. In a statement Saturday, county Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas also called for an “immediate and independent investigation” by the Office of the Inspector General.
But Sheriff Alex Villanueva said that while he is always willing to call in the inspector general, it was premature given the department was in the early stages of its investigation.
Instead, he said, the shooting illustrates the importance of body-worn cameras, which the agency does not yet have.
“Had the Board of Supervisors acted on this when I was first in office … this would not be the news it needed to be today because the deputies would have had them, and we would have had more evidence to draw from,” Villanueva said.
Wegener said the department is working to obtain web-based video from a third-party vendor, described as an alarm company, that provides services to the scene.
Shortly before 6 p.m. Thursday, two Compton station deputies were on patrol when they observed Guardado, a Los Angeles resident, talking to someone in a car that was blocking the driveway to the businesses, Wegener said.
As they stopped parallel to the car, Guardado reportedly looked at the deputies, produced a handgun and ran south down the driveway between businesses. The deputies caught up to Guardado at the back of the building, and that’s when one of them fired six shots at him, Wegener said.
It wasn’t disclosed what specifically prompted the deputy to fire or how many of those shots struck Guardado, who died at the scene. An autopsy was pending, officials said.
The gun was a .40 caliber semiautomatic pistol with a polymer frame that had no markings or serial number, Wegener said. The gun had been altered with a prohibited, extended 15-round magazine with 13 live rounds loaded, he said.
That weapon was being analyzed, Wegener said.
Addressing reports Guardado was a security guard, officials said he was not in a security uniform or security clothing nor was he wearing any type of gun belt. He was not in possession of handcuffs, extra magazines or a holster, Wegener said.
The age requirement for an armed security guard in California is 21, he added.
Investigators were continuing to conduct interviews with people involved. They removed six or seven cameras from their mounts on the exterior of the building to see if they had any onboard memory cards but did not find any, Wegener said.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done on this case that has not even started,” Wegener said.
Family and friends of Guardado contend he was not armed when he was shot and accused the Sheriff’s Department of covering it up during a Friday afternoon press conference held at the scene.
He was described as a hardworking teenager who held two jobs who loved going to the gym. He was looking to get back into school, family members said.
“He was going to have a great career and a family,” his sister Jennifer Guardado, 22. said Friday. “He’ll never get to experience that. They took that away from him. I never got to say goodbye.”
Andrew Haney, an employee at Bow Down Performance at the location, said Guardado had been hanging around for five to six months and volunteered to keep an eye out for potential taggers.
About 100 people gathered at the scene to protest against police violence in Guardado’s memory on Friday evening.
But Villanueva also accused people of spreading misinformation through social media and urged those people to stop until the facts were known.
“It’s damaging,” he said. “It doesn’t serve the community well. It doesn’t serve the family well. It’s irresponsible and people need to hold themselves to a higher standard than that.”
As for the body-worn cameras, Cmdr. Chris Marks said the department was close to picking a company through a request-forproposal process, which began in October.
Once that company is selected and a contract is negotiated, it will go to the Board of Supervisors for approval and funding, he said.
“We have a policy and plan ready,” he said. “We just need the funds to move forward and the contract approved.”