San Bernardino County detective ambushed east of Palmdale. The suspect chose to shoot it out. This time, the deputy is coming home.
Wednesday afternoon. A little after 3 p.m. Out in the high desert east of Palmdale.
A San Bernardino County Sheriff’s detective was doing his job — serving a search warrant, working a criminal investigation, in the Littlerock area near Avenue R and 130th Street East. Desolate country. The kind of place where backup is minutes away, not seconds.
The suspect decided he wasn’t going quietly.
Shots were exchanged. The detective was hit in the lower rib cage. The suspect was killed at the scene. When it was over, deputies could see a long gun inside the suspect’s white SUV.
This was a man who was armed, who knew law enforcement was there, and who made the decision to shoot it out rather than surrender. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said it plainly: the suspect was armed, dangerous, and willing to trade gunfire with the police. That’s a very dangerous individual. Luna’s word, and he’s right.
Now here’s the part that matters most.
The detective is going to make it.
He was airlifted to Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster. Deputies performed life-saving measures. As of now he’s in stable condition and expected to recover. He’s a veteran investigator, on the job since 2014, a man in his thirties who went to work Wednesday and nearly didn’t come home.
Let me say the quiet part out loud. Warrant service is one of the most dangerous things a cop does. You are going to a location, on purpose, where you have reason to believe a crime occurred and where an armed suspect may be waiting. There’s no such thing as a routine warrant. Ask this detective.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s homicide is handling the investigation, which is standard — the wounded detective is San Bernardino Sheriff, and this happened in LA County.
Keep him and his family in your thoughts.
