Officer Slain by Robbers at Maywood Store

A Maywood police officer was fatally shot Friday as he confronted armed robbers fleeing a neighborhood market, becoming the first member of the tiny Police Department to be killed in the line of duty in its 68-year history.

John A. Hoglund, 46, was responding to a silent burglar alarm at George’s Market, a family-owned grocery and liquor store, when he was shot at least three times in the chest and head as he stepped from his patrol car, Maywood Police Chief Ted Heidke said. Hoglund did not have a chance to draw his own gun, Heidke said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Hal Grant said four or five clean-cut young men escaped in two cars, described by witnesses as a blue Honda Prelude and a red Mazda RX7. The Sheriff’s Department, which has a contract to assist Maywood in major cases, is handling the homicide investigation for the local Police Department, which has just 34 officers.

The market is widely known in the blue-collar neighborhood as a place where area factory workers cash their checks each Friday. The owners’ son said the thieves, who were armed with .45 magnum pistols, apparently knew that large amounts of cash would be available and methodically searched the store, leaving about 1:35 p.m. with thousands of dollars.

“Money comes and goes easily but a policeman dying like that, it’s sad,” said the owners’ son, Tom, who declined to give his full name.

Witnesses Eloisa Gray and Ever Caballero, who live nearby, said the thieves looked like gang members because they wore white T-shirts and baggy pants. But Grant, the sheriff’s spokesman, said there was no evidence they were gang members.

“They looked like typical . . . student types with big guns,” Tom agreed, adding that the store’s video cameras should have captured pictures of them.

The owners’ son said the men appeared to be experienced thieves, coolly taking as long as 20 minutes to rob the store and fleeing only when one in their group saw Hoglund’s patrol car pull up outside. Although authorities said Hoglund was responding to an alarm, Tom insisted he did not activate the store’s silent alert until the thieves were safely out the door and speculated that the officer was simply passing by when he saw them escaping.

But Heidke maintained it was an alarm that drew Hoglund to the scene. In a gesture typical of Hoglund, he said, the 16-year veteran was not assigned to take the call, but volunteered because he was the closest officer. Maywood officers typically ride alone, he said.

“Even if he wasn’t assigned a call he always went. He was always working,” Heidke said.

By the time a backup car with two reserve officers arrived minutes later, Hoglund had been s fatally wounded, Heidke said. His patrol car was parked in the middle of the 4000 block of East 52nd Street, directly in front of the market, its driver’s door open with the officer slumped partially inside.

Heidke said officers are trained to park away from a business whose alarm has sounded and approach it cautiously from the side. Because of the position of Hoglund’s car, he speculated that the officer pulled up just as the thieves were entering one of the get-away cars, tried to stop them, and did not realize there was a second carload of accomplices nearby.

“There had to be a reason because that’s not where we stop,” Heidke said.

Hoglund, who was known for his dry sense of humor, was the only officer in the Maywood force who refused to wear a bulletproof vest, Heidke said. The fatal wound was to the head, however, so a vest would not have made a difference, the chief added.

A divorced father of two and a resident of San Gabriel, Hoglund was pronounced dead at Santa Marta Hospital.