Fans Celebrating Mexico’s Win Turn Rowdy, Loot Stores

A festive World Cup celebration turned violent in Huntington Park late Friday as about 5,000 fans, jubilant over Mexico’s win earlier in the day, threw rocks and bottles at police, fired guns into the air and looted stores in the city’s central business district, authorities said.

Fifty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and 30 officers from Huntington Park and neighboring cities responded to the incident, believed to be the first violence in the United States linked to the monthlong soccer tournament. World Cup officials could not be reached for comment.

“It started out with everybody in a festive mood,” Huntington Park Police Sgt. Tom Weselis said of the partying. “The celebrating just got out of hand.”

Police said a bystander, Jose Zaragosa of Los Angeles, was struck in the leg by gunfire. He was treated at White Memorial Medical Center in Boyle Heights and released Friday.

Several Huntington Park police officers sustained minor injuries and one sheriff’s deputy suffered a badly bruised elbow and thigh when he was struck by a car driven by a soccer fan. The deputy, whose name was withheld, was treated at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood and released Friday.

Luis Julio Centano, 18, of Boyle Heights was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a peace officer with a deadly weapon, said sheriff’s spokesman Ron Spear. Centano was being held at the Lynwood sheriff’s station in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Police said 3,000 to 5,000 fans poured onto Pacific Boulevard just north of Florence Avenue throughout Friday to celebrate Mexico’s 2-1 win over Ireland. Within minutes of the game’s finish, just before noon, hundreds of cheering fans began to appear on the busy thoroughfare, the center of Huntington Park’s bustling business district, Weselis said.

Huntington Park police attempted to maintain calm throughout the day but were pelted with rocks and bottles as the mood of the crowd grew more aggressive into the evening, Weselis said.

Three or four Pacific Boulevard businesses had their windows broken and were looted, but police were uncertain of the extent of the damage. Weselis said several Huntington Park police cars were damaged by rocks and bottles and police car windshields were shattered. He estimated the damage at about $500.

Police and sheriff’s deputies moved in to disperse the crowd about 11:30 p.m., but many celebrants began driving through the area in caravans and continued to block streets. “It was bumper to bumper on Pacific,” Weselis said. “The street was impassable. The crowds were just tremendous.”

Sheriff’s deputies and police, aided by two sheriff’s helicopter crews, began stopping the caravans one at time, directing them away from the downtown area.

As one deputy directed traffic at Crockett Boulevard and Nadeau Street, just south of Huntington Park in the unincorporated area of Walnut Park, he was struck by one of the motorists, Spear said.

The deputy had instructed the motorist to stop, and held on to the vehicle to avoid being thrown under its wheels. He managed to roll away from the car when the driver swerved away from him, Spear said.