Suspect in Killing of Officer Accused in Earlier Assault

One of the two suspects in Monday’s fatal shooting of a Los Angeles policeman assaulted a man moments before Officer James H. Pagliotti was killed, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Thomas Lee Mixon, 19, was charged with one count each of assault with a force likely to cause great bodily injury, conspiracy to sell drugs, selling cocaine and murder, Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard L. Jenkins said.

The assault occurred on the corner of Astoria Street and Bromont Avenue before the gun battle with police, Jenkins said. He declined to identify the assault victim, the motive for the assault or the weapon involved.

Wounded in Shoulder

Mixon, who Jenkins said is on parole from the California Youth Authority on a narcotics charge, appeared in San Fernando Municipal Court dressed in a hospital smock and manacled. He was scheduled to be arraigned, but the proceeding was postponed until June 30 at the request of his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Gerald T. Richardson. Mixon was returned to the jail ward of County-USC Medical Center where he is recovering from a gunshot wound in the shoulder.

The other suspect, a 17-year-old whose name is being withheld because he is a juvenile, was charged Thursday with one count of murder in Eastlake Juvenile Court, Deputy Dist. Atty. Mitchell J. Harris said. Arraignment was set for July 15, doctors at the jail ward of County-USC Medical Center said, because the suspect is still recovering from a gunshot wound in the body.

Harris said he has filed a motion seeking to try the 17-year-old as an adult. The youth must be arraigned before the court rules on the motion.

Fatal Shots

The 17-year-old is believed to have fired the shots that killed Pagliotti, Detective Marvin G. Engquist said. The gun battle began after another officer, Randy Garcia, noticed two teen-agers carrying guns emerge from behind a shrub Monday night in the Sylmar Square area. Responding to Garcia’s radio call for help, Pagliotti stepped out of his car, identified himself as a police officer and then took cover behind the car, police said.

The 17-year-old suspect immediately opened fire with a handgun, according to Lt. William Hall, commander of the Los Angeles Police Department’s officer-involved shooting team. As Pagliotti returned fire, his car rolled forward because it was left in drive, exposing him, Hall said. He was hit once in the chest.

Although mortally wounded, Pagliotti fired 14 shots, wounding the 17-year-old once in the chest. Mixon began running toward Garcia, who shot him once in the shoulder, according to police.