Policewoman Shot in Chest Is Improving

A Los Angeles policewoman was improving slightly Sunday after being critically wounded in a shoot-out with one of four young people who allegedly followed her home early Saturday to steal her customized truck, sheriff’s detectives said.

The robbers, one of whom was killed in the close-range gun battle with Officer Stacy Lim, 27, of Santa Clarita, had tried but failed twice earlier in the evening to steal motorists’ cars, detectives said. They allegedly were attracted to Lim’s truck, which they spotted on a freeway, because of its custom rims.

The suspects did not realize Lim was a police officer and considered her an easy target because she was alone, said Detective Mike Scott of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

A surviving suspect told investigators “if they’d known she was a cop, they wouldn’t have tried to do what they did,” Scott said.

Lim, of the LAPD’s Northeast Division, underwent several operations at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital after being shot once in the chest with a .357 magnum handgun outside her home.

Joel Garcia Valenzuela, 16, of Highland Park, was killed in the shoot-out. Details remained sketchy Sunday because investigators had not been able to interview Lim, according to Scott and his partner, Detective Gary Kotler.

The other three suspects, all of Highland Park, were in custody Sunday on suspicion of murder, attempted murder of a police officer and robbery, Kotler said. The only adult, Arvin Mani, 20, was being held in County Jail. Two girls, 13 and 14, were in Juvenile Hall in Sylmar. Mani and the two girls were scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday, Kotler said.

Kotler said the suspects told him they had tried to steal other vehicles that evening but failed for reasons they did not explain. Then they noticed Lim near the intersection of the Golden State and Pasadena freeways, heading home in her 1988 blue Ford Bronco, the officer said.

Lim apparently did not realize she was being followed, Kotler said. She was confronted about 1:40 a.m. Saturday after parking the truck in front of the house she shares with two other women, both civilian employees of the police department. A roommate called 911, Kotler said.

Although she has worked in the Northeast Division only six months of her two years on the force, Lim was described Sunday as an officer who had earned the respect and affection of colleagues.

Asked whether Lim excelled at any particular aspect of police work, Lt. Dave Waterman, Lim’s supervisor on the evening shift, said: “Right now, she’s good at surviving. Everybody’s pulling for her, hoping she’ll make it.”