Gunman’s Co-Worker Is Charged in Officer’s Death

A Fountain Valley man who authorities allege failed to alert police that a suspect was hiding in a warehouse has been indicted for the subsequent death of an officer ambushed by Israel Gonzalez.

Ronald Davey, 50, worked with Gonzalez, 28, in the film industry out of the warehouse in Chatsworth.

Last May, Gonzalez badly beat his girlfriend and the woman called Glendale police, authorities said.

Officers went to the warehouse to look for Gonzalez.

“Davey was at the warehouse, but he didn’t tell them Gonzalez was inside,” said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles district attorney’s office.

When Glendale Police Investigator Charles Lazzaretto walked inside the building, a waiting Gonzalez gunned him down, then wounded two Los Angeles police officers during a shootout. Gonzalez shot himself to death during a seven-hour standoff with the LAPD’s SWAT team.

A Los Angeles Grand Jury indicted Davey on charges of involuntary manslaughter and accessory after the fact for harboring Gonzalez, Gibbons said.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges at an arraignment in Los Angeles Municipal Court on Thursday and was released on $25,000 bail. The case will be tried in San Fernando.

“It’s an unusual case and may be the first of its kind around here,” Gibbons said.