Sheriff's deputy shot dead outside his Cypress Park home

FOR THE RECORD:
Deputy's slaying: An article in Sunday's Section A about the slaying of a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy outside his family's Cypress Park home reported the wrong homicide statistics for the Los Angeles Police Department's Northeast Division, which includes Cypress Park. The article said the division reported 11 homicides from January through June 26, up from six over the same period last year. There were 18 homicides as of July 26, up from 13. —

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A neighbor said she heard at least three gunshots, followed by screeching tires. A minute later, the silence was broken by screams of "My husband! My husband!" said the neighbor, who declined to give her name for fear of gang retaliation.

Escalante's wife and mother rushed to the deputy, who was not wearing his uniform, the neighbor said.

Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton said it was "too early to know" whether the shooting was gang related or connected to the deputy's assignment at Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles. Deputies typically work in the county jails as their first assignment.

Escalante, his wife and their three children were living with his parents but were preparing to buy a home in Pomona.

The blue-collar neighborhood of modest single-family homes northeast of downtown had experienced a fragile lull in gang violence in recent years until feuding between rival groups erupted in January.

In February, a shooting outside an elementary school a few blocks from Escalante's home touched off a fierce gun battle between gang members and police in neighboring Glassell Park. The violence led to a massive gang raid in late June by heavily armed police and federal agents, who stormed an area around Drew Street, about a mile north of where Escalante was slain.

While the number of gang crimes across the city of Los Angeles has fallen this year, the Cypress Park neighborhood and the surrounding northeast section of the city is among the few areas that have seen a significant rise, according to police department crime statistics. The LAPD's Northeast Division reported 11 homicides from January through June 26, up from six over the same period last year.

Bratton said the slaying was the first in the area since the June gang raid.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca described Escalante, a U.S. Army reservist and 2 1/2-year department veteran, as "dedicated and hard-charging in the best sense of the word. . . . He lived up to the dream of serving his country, serving his county and honoring his family.

"Today is a very difficult day," Baca said.

Law enforcement sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not have permission to talk about the pending investigation, said detectives were pursuing a broad range of possible reasons for the attack. Among them are whether the slaying was a gang-related assassination connected to Escalante's work at the jail, a random drive-by shooting or the result of someone's personal grudge.

"The best detectives in our police department are handling this case," said Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz of the LAPD.

Police cordoned off two blocks of Aragon Avenue between Maceo Street and Thorpe Avenue as officers blanketed the area most of the day.

For hours, detectives knocked on doors and combed the sidewalk and street near the deputy's home for clues. Several shell casings lay on the street. A hip-high black curtain surrounded Escalante's body, which was covered in a white sheet, until coroner's officials removed the body at 11:45 a.m.

Police officials brushed nearly every inch of the deputy's black GMC sport utility vehicle for fingerprints until it was towed away at 4:05 p.m.

Steve Remige, president of the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, released a statement saying he was confident that Escalante's killers would be caught.