LANCASTER, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on a Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant who was shot in Lancaster (all times local):
4:50 p.m.
A California mayor says a Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant fatally shot by a suspect died surrounded by family and fellow officers in an emotional scene at the hospital.
Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris says at least 100 officers were crying at the hospital over the death of Sgt. Steve Owen on Wednesday. The 53-year-old had been at the sheriff’s department for about three decades.
Parris says doctors brought Owen back three times, but that he had been shot in the face with a large-caliber bullet and “didn’t have a chance.”
Parris says Owen’s adult son and daughter, his mother and his wife - a sheriff’s detective - were all at his side when he died.
He says Owen loved his job and was about to transfer to the department’s equestrian unit before retirement.
He described Owen as always making everyone laugh and being so well-liked by the city council, they tried to get him to join their ranks every two years. Each time, Parris says Owen said no, that “he really liked being a cop.”
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3:30 p.m.
A Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant who was shot has died.
Authorities say 53-year-old Steve Owen died at a hospital Wednesday afternoon, several hours after he was shot while responding to a report of a burglary in a neighborhood in Lancaster, north of Los Angeles.
Sheriff’s officials say other deputies fired shots at the suspect after he tried to steal a sheriff’s patrol car and rammed that vehicle into another patrol car while escaping.
Authorities say the man later fled to a home, which was surrounded, and a man was arrested after he tried to climb a face and escape.
The suspect, a parolee, had a gunshot wound and was taken to a hospital.
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2:30 p.m.
Authorities have a man in custody after a Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant was shot and critically wounded in Lancaster.
Sheriff’s deputies were seen handcuffing a shirtless man kneeling in front of a home more than an hour after Wednesday afternoon’s attack north of Los Angeles.
Deputy Guillermina Saldana says the sergeant was shot around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday while answering a report of a burglary in progress on West Avenue J-7.
The Sheriff’s Department says the sergeant was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
Deputies converged on the neighborhood and began hunting for the attacker.
Several schools were placed on lockdown and students at nearby Antelope Valley College were told to shelter in place.
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