Man killed by police may be tied to slaying

The veteran Glendale police officer did what is routine on any shift: At 9:30 p.m. Monday, he pulled his patrol car over to talk to a man he thought was acting suspiciously.

The man turned out to be Daniel Gonzalez, a 28-year-old parolee who had been released from state prison two weeks ago after a second-degree murder conviction. Almost immediately, authorities said, Gonzalez fled on foot, firing over his shoulder at the 20-year veteran officer whose eye he had caught.

The officer “was taking cover and putting out a broadcast at the same time that he was being shot [at],” said Glendale police spokesman John Balian.

Backup arrived within minutes at the scene near East Colorado and South Adams streets. Gonzalez had run south on South Adams to East Elk Avenue where, authorities said, he hid in the bushes. Two officers in pursuit traded gunfire with him, with one taking at least one round to the chest.

Less than 10 minutes after the initial call for help, the incident ended with Gonzalez shot dead by police and collapsing in the 300 block South Chevy Chase Drive.

The officer who took a round to the chest, a five-year veteran whose name was not released, was not seriously injured -- saved by his bulletproof vest.

“If he wasn’t wearing his vest, he probably wouldn’t have been with us today,” Balian said.

Glendale and Los Angeles police detectives said Tuesday that they were investigating whether Gonzalez was the triggerman in the slaying of Jose Garcia, 29, of Los Angeles, who was fatally wounded two hours before Gonzalez’s shootout with police.

Garcia was shot in the head and torso in the 1400 block of North Avenue 51 in northeast Los Angeles shortly after 7:15 p.m. Monday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. He was pronounced dead about 2 a.m. Tuesday at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, said coroner’s spokesman Craig Harvey.

Gonzalez and Garcia were friends and members of the same L.A. street gang, said LAPD Det. Jose Carrillo. Carillo said the two got into an altercation, and witnesses told police Gonzalez pulled out a gun and fired.

A handgun was recovered at one of three crime scenes blocked off Tuesday morning by Glendale police investigators. Los Angeles police said they planned to compare ballistic evidence from the shooting in northeast Los Angeles with the weapon recovered in Glendale.

--

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com

--

Times staff writer Ruben Vives contributed to this report.