Suspect in killing of LA-area police officer lived with mother, had no criminal record
Published in News & Features
LOS ANGELES — The suspect accused of fatally shooting two people including a Baldwin Park police officer over the weekend has been identified as 22-year-old Eduardo Roberto Medina-Berumen, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Monday.
Medina-Berumen was arrested on suspicion of murder and is being held in lieu of $4 million bail, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Two law enforcement sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the active investigation, said Medina-Berumen has no known criminal history. He lives with his mother at the Baldwin Park address on Filhurst Avenue where gunfire erupted Saturday night, a source said. Baldwin Park is in L.A. County's San Gabriel Valley.
Baldwin Park police responded to the home around 7 p.m. and were met with gunfire. Two officers — Samuel Riveros and Anthony Pimentel — were struck and were rushed to a hospital. Riveros, 35, of Pasadena, did not survive.
Officers also found a man suffering from gunshot wounds in the front yard of the home where the suspect was found. That man, who has not been identified, was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. It was not immediately clear when the person was shot, but Sheriff Robert Luna said the suspect was believed to be responsible.
Medina-Berumen was wounded by police and is being hospitalized in stable condition before being transferred to a jail facility.
It was not immediately clear whether he had legal representation. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office had not filed charges as of early Monday afternoon.
“This tragic shooting is a sobering reminder of the danger our first responders face when they answer the call. The District Attorney’s Office responded to the scene and is working closely with law enforcement partners to support a thorough investigation,” Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said in a statement. “We will keep the family of the fallen officer as well as the other officer who was shot, and the entire Police Department, in our prayers as they grapple with this difficult loss.”
Eduardo Medina, who identified himself to a Los Angeles Times reporter on Sunday as the suspect’s father, said he first learned about his son’s arrest, the killings and the shootout from his daughter.
“I don’t understand,” Medina said. “It’s so sad. It’s not good. It’s not good at all.”
Medina said his son lived with his ex-wife, from whom he’d separated 15 years ago. About five months ago, he said, his ex-wife told him she’d called police because their son was “acting weird.”
Medina said he didn’t know what that meant, but his ex-wife told him the police arrested their son and confiscated a gun. Further information on that incident was not immediately available.
Investigators are still working to determine a motive in the shooting.
Juan Ruvalcaba, 81, who lives across the street from where the shooting began Saturday night, said he initially thought he was hearing firecrackers, but then saw his neighbor shooting what appeared to be a long gun. He said the young man was in his own front yard and seemed to be shooting into the air and in the direction of a different street — but he didn’t see the man aiming at anyone or anything in particular.
Still, he said, he called the man’s grandmother, who also lived with him, and warned her to hide under a bed and not let her grandson inside.
Ruvalcaba also went inside his house, so he didn’t see what happened next, but was shaken by news of the two deaths. “Thank God that I’m still here,” Ruvalcaba said.
He said he had never been scared of his neighbor and didn’t know of any serious behavioral or mental health issues, but he said Medina-Berumen was often disrespectful to his grandparents.
On Monday morning, the 4200 block of Filhurst Avenue was quiet after days of activity in the normally peaceful neighborhood. A small group of family and friends gathered in front of a memorial set up to mourn the civilian killed on Saturday.
A little after 7 p.m on Saturday, resident Tamara Ayala heard three gunshots that she initially thought were fireworks. She checked her Ring camera that points to her front yard and saw a man lying motionless on the sidewalk in front of her home.
“We didn’t know if he got shot, if he got beat up or what,” Ayala said. “We just heard three loud bangs.”
Neighbors told the Times that there may have been a parking dispute happening around the time of the shooting, but it’s not clear whether Medina-Berumen nor the man who was killed were involved.
Police arrived at the scene within five minutes, and when they did, Medina-Berumen began to open fire in their direction, Ayala said.
“I heard 15 to 20 shots,” Ayala said. “We barricaded ourselves in the den because we were so frightened and the poor officer was by himself. He was out there for almost 10 minutes until the rest of the police officers showed up.”
Another neighbor, who declined to give her name to a Times reporter, said she’s known Medina-Berumen since he was young and could not have expected this kind of violence.
“We knew them since our kids were little, we knew him since he was little,” she said in Spanish. “We would see him grow up over the years but we didn’t have any communication with him.”
Eric Esquivel, a childhood friend of Riveros, stood dejectedly on the sidewalk on Monday looking down at the street where the young officer was killed.
“He spent a lot of time in my house growing up, and I spent a lot of time around his family. We’ve helped each other and went through many seminal moments together,” he said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced over the weekend that flags at the State Capitol and Capitol Annex Swing Space would be flown at half-staff in Riveros’ honor. Esquivel said the officer, a Dodgers fan and avid snowboarder, had a smile that always brought joy to those around him.
“He’s being recognized for the services that he provided for his community for a long time,” Esquivel said. “On the one hand, that’s great, but on the other hand, it’s like he was so much more than that.”
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(Times staff writers Grace Toohey and James Queally contributed to this report.)
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