Police Seek Reason for Shoot-Out With Civic Leader

Inglewood police are trying to figure out what caused a confrontation that left Francisco Avina--a businessman, city commission member and appointee to a mayoral anti-crime task force--wounded and charged with attempted murder of a police officer.

Avina, 39, was in serious condition Wednesday afternoon at Centinela Hospital, recovering from gunshot wounds in both ankles.

Avina was hit by a submachine-gun burst at the end of a three-hour siege at a coin laundry he owns on South Prairie Avenue. Police say he yelled threats and obscenities and fired at an officer during the incident early Tuesday.

“He’s lucky to be alive,” said Sgt. Harold Moret.

Investigators said marital problems and drinking may have led to the confrontation, which began shortly before 2 a.m. when police responded to an anonymous report of a disturbance. Officers said they heard loud noises, possibly gunshots, coming from inside the laundry.

Thinking they had trapped a burglar inside, officers forced their way in and were confronted by a man hiding behind a row of dryers who screamed threats at them, Moret said.

The man, whom officers identified as Avina only after he was captured, ignored repeated orders to surrender. When a police dog was brought in to flush him out, Avina fired one shot that narrowly missed an officer, Moret said.

A SWAT team was brought in and negotiated with Avina in English and Spanish for several hours. He was often incoherent and refused to surrender, police said.

About 5:15 a.m., as officers prepared to tear-gas the building, Avina climbed into an attic and began poking out tiles in the roof, screaming that he would kill them all, police said. Fearing that Avina would shoot down at them, one officer fired, and Avina fell to the floor. A .38-caliber pistol from which six rounds had been fired was recovered at the scene.

Arresting officers said Avina made rambling statements about “a film crew holding him captive and making a movie without a permit,” Moret said.

Doctors at Centinela Hospital removed bullet fragments from Avina’s ankles and treated him for internal injuries suffered in his fall, a hospital spokesman said. Marino said Avina would be arraigned at 1 p.m. today.

Avina is separated from his wife, and personal items found in a small living area in the laundry suggest that he may have been living there, investigator Larry Marino said. Police said they are checking whether Avina had been acting unusually or had previous encounters with police.

City officials and residents who know him said Avina, who also owns the Franco Auto Center next to the laundry, is an active member of the city’s Latino community and has served in various organizations.

Avina was appointed to the city’s advisory Parking and Traffic Commission by former Councilman Virgle Benson in 1983. His term expired last year, but he remains a commissioner because no replacement has been named. He also is an organizer of the city’s yearly Hispanic Fiesta and is on the Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration Planning Committee.

Avina was the only Latino among 20 applicants who applied for a vacancy on the Inglewood school board last October.

On Anti-Crime Panel

Assistant City Manager Norman Cravens confirmed Tuesday that Mayor Edward Vincent had named Avina to a mayoral anti-crime task force of community leaders formed in February.

Shortly after the incident Tuesday, a reporter who requested a list of the task force members at the city administrative office was given a list on which Avina’s name had been crossed off. Cravens said a secretary in the city’s administrative office showed bad judgment in crossing off the name and making it appear as if Avina was not a member of the task force.

The name was struck out after office personnel heard news of Avina’s arrest and assumed that he would be removed from the task force, Cravens said. “It was a dumb thing to do.”

He said no supervisor or city official had ordered that Avina’s name be removed from the list given to the reporter, but he said Avina would no longer be on the task force.