A Los Angeles County deputy lied when he said he was shot in the shoulder while standing in a sheriffs station parking lot last week and will face a criminal investigation, authorities said.
The reported sniper assault was fabricated by Deputy Angel Reinosa, Assistant Sheriff Robin Limon said at a news conference late Saturday.
Reinosa, 21, made a frantic radio call Wednesday claiming hed been shot by someone in a nearby building as he walked to his car outside the Lancaster station, prompting a huge police response. Deputies set up a perimeter and SWAT officers went door-to-door inside a sprawling building complex to search for the shooter.
At the time, investigators believed Reinosas bulletproof vest saved his life but that a bullet grazed him. A department statement the next day said a single round hit the top of Reinosas shoulder, damaging his uniform shirt but failing to penetrate his flesh.
But no bullets were recovered from the scene and detectives saw no visible injuries, Capt. Kent Wegener said Saturday night.
Much of the young deputys statement was self-serving and didnt make a whole lot of sense, Wegener said. There were many things that didnt add up.
Reinosa eventually admitted making up the story and using a knife to cut the two holes in his shirt, Wegener said.
Reinosa has been relieved of his duties and could face charges for filing a false report about a crime, officials said. He didnt explain his motive for the fabrication, Wegener said.
Reinosa had been with the LA County Sheriffs Department for a year and joined the Lancaster station in May for patrol training.
Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris told the Los Angeles Times on Sunday he had been informed by sheriffs officials that Reinosa had been struggling in his first year in the field a probationary training period that all deputies must complete before becoming full-fledged deputies. Sheriffs officials wouldnt immediately confirm that account.
He was not advancing through the training program at an adequate pace, Parris told the newspaper. There had been a lot of attention on him.
Parris declined to elaborate further on Reinosas performance but said the deputy was scheduled to be transferred from the Lancaster station and speculated that he had been unhappy about the pending move.
The mayor visited Reinosa in the hospital and then gave a press conference on the incident Wednesday night detailing the ongoing investigation.
Parris said he was embarrassed after learning Saturday evening that the whole ordeal was a hoax.
At the same time, Im grateful we dont have a sniper running around, the mayor told the newspaper. And Im really proud of how the Sheriffs Department handled it. There was no attempt to cover it up.
Deputies searched through the night for the sniper inside the block-long, four-story structure with many windows that overlook the sheriffs facility in downtown Lancaster, a desert city of about 160,000 people north of Los Angeles.
Tactical teams worked their way through the building, evacuating some people and having others shelter in place, officials said.
Deputies cleared other nearby buildings, including a library. Authorities urged residents to avoid the neighborhood.
Metrolink train service was halted in the area.
The search was called off Thursday and authorities said the shooter was still at large.
Our deputies responded to a cry for help and did exactly what they have been trained to do to protect our civilian staff, residents and community, said a department statement Sunday. Our community and other first responder partners worked side by side with us to move quickly, effectively and efficiently. There is no shame in that.
The statement concluded: The actions of one individual are not indicative of who Lancaster Sheriffs Station Deputies are.
(AP)
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One Response
prompting a huge police response Reality is, as expensive as this response was, if they send him to prison, this would cost the taxpayer even more money. So only financially viable option is to fire him and take away his pension; Assumption being he shan’t be able to pay back costs of this police response.