Lone Survivor in Shoot-Out Charged With 3 Murders

The lone survivor of a police shoot-out that left three robbers dead outside a McDonald’s restaurant in Sunland pleaded not guilty Tuesday to three counts of murder, which prosecutors filed under a state law that holds lawbreakers responsible for deaths that occur during their crimes.

Prosecutors alleged that Alfredo Olivas, 19, of Hollywood provoked the Feb. 12 shoot-out by grabbing a pellet gun and pointing it at the officers, who believed it was a firearm.

“He did something beyond the robbery that caused the deaths of the three participants,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Kenneth L. Barshop said after Tuesday’s arraignment in San Fernando Municipal Court.

“He had a pellet gun and had it in his hand when the police told everyone to freeze, and I believe that he pointed it in the direction of the officers.”

Nine members of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Special Investigations Section, which had been monitoring the group in connection with a string of similar robberies, fired at least 35 rounds from shotguns and .45-caliber pistols at the robbers after they entered a getaway car parked outside the restaurant, a police investigation showed.

Olivas, who remains in custody without bail, was shot in the abdomen and hospitalized in serious condition. He is charged in the slayings of Jesus Arango, 25, and Herbert Burgos, 37, both of Venice, and Juan Bahena, 20, of Hollywood. He also pleaded not guilty to one count of robbery.

Attorneys agreed to meet in court March 19 to set a preliminary hearing date.

Deputy Public Defender Howard C. Waco denied that Olivas provoked the shoot-out, saying Olivas told him Tuesday that none of the car’s occupants knew the police were present and none pointed a weapon at them.

“He knows about the robbery, but the rest is beyond his comprehension,” Waco said. “There was no gun battle initiated by anybody in that car. They never had a chance.”

It was unclear whether Barshop’s comments on Olivas’ role in instigating the gunfire fit the account of the shooting given earlier by police.

At a press conference Feb. 12, Lt. William Hall, in charge of the investigation of the shooting, said twice that the shooting started after someone in the getaway car pointed a gun over the front seat at the officers who had driven up from behind.

“When they approached the vehicle they saw one of the suspects with a handgun turn over the front seat and point it towards their direction,” Hall said. “At that time we had several officers fire into the vehicle.”

But according to police and autopsy reports, Olivas was in the back seat of the car, indicating that he was not the man police said initially pointed the gun. Hall said that after the shooting started, the officers saw “other guns or perhaps the same gun being pointed inside the vehicle.”

Police said a pellet gun was found on the floor near Olivas’ legs after the shooting.

Barshop could not be contacted for clarification late Tuesday. Police declined to comment.

Municipal Court Commissioner Gerald T. Richardson ordered prosecutors and police officials not to question Olivas after Waco said during the arraignment that police interviewed the suspect at his hospital bed without his attorney being present.

Barshop said he believes the interview was part of a police department Internal Affairs investigation into the shooting and was not related to the murder prosecution.

During the after-hours robbery, the men bound the restaurant manager and forced her at gunpoint to give them the combination of a safe, from which they took several thousand dollars, police said. They were surprised by the SIS surveillance team after they returned to their car. Police would not say how many officers were present but said nine officers took part in the shooting.

No police officers were hurt.

The families of the robbers filed a lawsuit last week charging that the officers used excessive force and murdered the three men. The suit, filed against Mayor Tom Bradley, Police Chief Daryl F. Gates and more than 100 other defendants, seeks more than $10 million in damages.