LAPD officers disperse a crowd of onlookers along Cypress Avenue near the scene of the shooting. Police officers said Escalante was not in uniform at the time, but could not say how many shots were fired.
Posted on 08/04/2008 9:02:59 AM PDT by BurbankKarl
A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy gunned down Saturday outside his boyhood home in Cypress Park had been assigned to guard the most dangerous inmates in the county, including members of the notorious Mexican Mafia gang, authorities said Sunday.
Los Angeles police and sheriff's officials said the prospect that Deputy Juan Abel Escalante was killed because of his work at the jail remained one of three possible motives. Investigators were also considering the possibility that neighborhood gang violence or a personal grudge were behind the killing.
As of right now, all of those possibilities are on the table," said Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz.
Escalante, 27, was shot to death outside his parents' home about 5:40 a.m. Saturday as he left for work at the downtown Men's Central Jail. He was assigned to the "high power" unit, where dangerous inmates -- many of them violent gang members -- are housed in single-man cells, Diaz and Sheriff Lee Baca said.
Detectives from LAPD's robbery-homicide division were investigating the killing with the assistance of detectives from the sheriff's homicide division and the jail's gang unit. Baca said Escalante's assignment put him in touch with members of the Mexican Mafia, a gang known to direct street crime and violence from behind prison walls.
"Until we can verify anything, it has to be looked at. In a homicide of this kind, with a person who's from a neighborhood that's had some difficulty with gangs, you can't rule anything out, particularly that," Baca said.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
LAPD officers disperse a crowd of onlookers along Cypress Avenue near the scene of the shooting. Police officers said Escalante was not in uniform at the time, but could not say how many shots were fired.
jail is preferable to these gang-bangers. they get drugs, protection from other gang members, a place to sleep and 3 meals a day. weight rooms, cable, etc...
even if they do find this savage, he'll live a long time through appeals.
You would think Cops would get a little tired of illegals gunning down fellow Cops, regardless of who shot this cop
Follow the money.
FYI
The Mexican Mafia hits the whole family. Not just one guy. Probably a gang hit for initiation.
“You would think Cops would get a little tired of illegals gunning down fellow Cops, regardless of who shot this cop”
Wouldn’t you though? There have been dozens of LEO deaths by illegal aliens and still the politicos of the police protect the aliens.
Prayers for the family of this brave officer.
Time for the LAPD to go on the war path.
Maybe they need to have a jailhouse beatdown, Ala the “Bloody Christmas” portrayed in LA Confidential, and take care of some of these punks the old-fashioned way.
I agree! why are they puting up with these people? these gangs should be eliminated..Darryl Gates would of never put up with this....
Here ya go...
Nice to know that 1) more and more parts of LA look exactly like Mexico (thanks Senator Kennedy) and 2) they feel as free to kill people in our country as in their own.
The Escalante family can thank the Mayor and City Council for making it a ‘Sanctuary City.’
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