LYNWOOD : 3 Gang Members Arrested in Slaying of Deputy

Three known gang members were arrested and booked on suspicion of murder Wednesday in the shooting death of a deputy earlier this month in Lynwood, Sheriff Sherman Block said.

Freddie Fuiava, 24, Juan Raphael Luis, 27, and Ernest Avila Jr., 25, all of Lynwood, were taken into custody after deputies served six search warrants in Lynwood, Compton and Fontana, Block said.

Investigators allege that Fuiava was the triggerman who gunned down Deputy Stephen Blair, a 31-year-old father of three, during an investigation May 12.

Luis and Avila were with Fuiava and were “involved in criminal activity at the time Deputy Blair was shot,” Block said.

Drug charges were filed earlier this week against another man who surrendered the day after the killing.

Blair was killed in the 5200 block of Walnut Avenue as he and his partner got out of their patrol car to question some men seen discarding what turned out to be a loaded handgun.