Hospital Releases Officer Hurt in Robbery Attempt

Los Angeles Police Officer Stacy Lim, who was shot and critically wounded during a June 9 confrontation with robbers outside her Santa Clarita home, was released from the hospital this week, authorities said Wednesday.

Lim, 27, left Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital Tuesday morning and will convalesce at the home of relatives, according to a family friend.

Hospital spokeswoman Caroline Korth said the two-year police officer is expected to recover fully from a .38-caliber bullet wound to the chest, which she received at close range during a shoot-out in which teen-age gunman Joel Valenzuela, 16, was killed. The confrontation occurred about 1:40 a.m., after Valenzuela and four Highland Park companions followed Lim home on the freeway to steal her customized truck, investigators said.

But it will be at least three to six months before Lim, who underwent two operations to repair her heart and remove her spleen, will be able to return to work, Korth said.

Before returning to active duty, Lim must undergo stress tests to determine whether wounds to her heart, caused when the bullet punctured a ventricle, have fully healed, Korth said.

Last Thursday, 20-year-old Arvin Peter Mani pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder in Lim’s shooting. He is scheduled to be sentenced July 12 and faces a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison.

Two girls, ages 13 and 14, are scheduled to be tried in Juvenile Court July 9 on robbery and assault charges. A fifth youth, the 12-year-old brother of one of the girls, was released without charges.