Slain Deputy Apparently Was Victim of ATM Holdup : Crime: Autopsy finds Peter Giron died of a gunshot wound to the head. He was found in his car outside a Carson bank.

An off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who was found shot to death in his car outside a Carson bank Monday was apparently the victim of a robbery that occurred shortly after he withdrew cash from an automated teller machine on his way to work, sheriff’s officials said Tuesday.

Deputies found the body of Peter Giron, 35, a 10-year veteran assigned to the Carson sheriff’s station, slumped in the front seat of his 1984 Volvo, parked in the Bank of America lot at Del Amo Boulevard and Leapwood Avenue. A passerby notified authorities after hearing a gunshot about 7:40 a.m. Monday.

An autopsy Tuesday confirmed that Giron had a single gunshot wound to the head, sheriff’s homicide Detective Ruben Bejarano said. He would not say whether a gun was found at the scene or whether Giron’s wallet was missing. It was also unclear whether Giron, who was dressed in street clothes, had been followed or whether a struggle took place.

Although the shooting is being treated as a murder, authorities have not ruled out suicide. But Giron’s family and friends said he was happy with his job and home life. Just six weeks ago, his wife, Danielle, had a baby daughter.

“(Investigators) are convinced that it is nothing other than someone killed my child,” said his father, Detective Herb Giron, a 25-year veteran and a member of the sheriff’s gang unit, known as Operation Safe Streets. “There was nothing that would cause such a radical change in him.”

‘He always felt the best about everything,” the father said. “I never heard him complain, good bad or indifferent.”

Giron, 58, leaning over the balcony at his son’s second-floor Ladera Heights apartment, recalled his son’s even-tempered personality. When Peter Giron decided to join the force, he kept his decision a secret in order to surprise his father.

“I got a call from the personnel commander who said, ‘We’re hiring your son,’ ” the elder Giron said. “I said, ‘You’re what?’ But he wanted to do it. It was a big honor for me. He even went so far as to try to get his starting dates to correspond with mine.”

Although he did have concerns about his son’s safety, “as any father would,” Giron said he was confident that his son was smart enough to handle a dangerous situation. In fact, he had never fired a gun on duty.

“I didn’t worry about him,” said Danielle Giron, 31. “He was always confident in what he was doing. I always thought he was in an area that was safer than others. I guess not. There’s always something like this on the news, and you always think about these things happening, but you never expect it.”

Giron also is survived by a 3-year-old son, Christopher; his mother, Mary; a brother, Gregory, and a sister, Pamela. Funeral arrangements were pending.