Guards Fired Shots That Killed Athlete, Investigation Finds

A high school football player gunned down as he left an East Los Angeles party last week was killed by security guards who felt threatened by a group of men, authorities confirmed Tuesday.

Sixteen-year-old Steve Delgado was being picked up by his mother from a quinceanera party at Betty’s Pasta House on Olympic Boulevard about 2:45 a.m. Dec. 3. when three guards opened fire, said Sgt. Dan Cruz of the sheriff’s homicide bureau.

The guards, hired to handle security for the restaurant, had just been in a heated argument with a group of about 10 men leaving the restaurant, Cruz said. The men had threatened to shoot the guards, one of whom thought he saw a gun pointed his way, authorities said. Delgado was not part of that group.

Delgado, a popular offensive lineman for Roosevelt High in Boyle Heights, “was hit by stray security guard bullets,” Cruz said.

Investigators had been trying to determine if someone in the group of men might have shot Delgado. But investigators said they believe none of them fired a shot.

The Sheriff’s Department is continuing to investigate whether the shooting was in self-defense or a criminal act. Nobody has been arrested, and the guards are cooperating with police.

“We are talking to people from both sides,” Cruz said. “It’s a confusing situation.”

The guards are licensed with the state and allowed to carry weapons. They normally work for a private guard company but were working freelance for the restaurant that night.

The state Bureau of Security and Investigative Services in Sacramento, which licenses security guards, also is investigating whether the shooting was justified.

The shooting happened just days before Delgado was to start in the City Section Invitational championship, one of the biggest football games in recent Roosevelt High history. Roosevelt, which had its best season since the mid-1980s, lost to Gardena High 31-7 in an evening emotionally charged by Delgado’s death. Players wore black armbands and displayed his No. 77 jersey before the game.