Somber Long Beach Prepares for Slain Policeman’s Service

With four suspects in jail, the city of Long Beach made final preparations Wednesday to honor policeman Daryle Black, an experienced anti-gang officer who died after his unmarked car ran into a hail of gunfire while on routine patrol.

City officials expect about 5,000 people to attend today’s memorial service, which is set for 10 a.m. at the Terrace Theater in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center on Ocean Boulevard.

Among those paying tribute to the fallen officer will be local dignitaries, members of Black’s family, and law enforcement personnel from across the county and state. California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, Mayor Beverly O’Neill and Police Chief Jerome Lance are scheduled to speak.

The service will include a 21-gun salute, a flyover by police helicopters in the missing-man formation and a procession that will proceed along Shoreline Drive and Ocean before it ends at the Brothers Mortuary on Redondo Avenue.

After the ceremony, the family is planning to return the body to Grand Rapids, Mich., for burial Saturday.

“There has been a phenomenal response by the people of this city,” said Connell Black, brother of the slain officer. “Anybody and everybody has expressed their condolences to us.”

The City Council on Tuesday night approved a second $20,000 reward in the slaying and presented Black’s relatives with a memorial resolution to recognize the officer’s service.

At the meeting, Mayor O’Neill called for a citywide moment of silence at 10 a.m. today to honor Black, as well as other members of the city’s police and fire departments. The time coincides with the beginning of the memorial service.

“Whatever we’re doing at 10 o’clock, we hope that we can all take a moment of silence to remember what he’s done for us in the city of Long Beach,” O’Neill said.

Black, 33, died early Sunday morning after his unmarked car was fired upon while traveling in the 1900 block of Lime Avenue near Pacific Coast Highway.

His partner, Officer Rick Delfin, 41, was wounded in the head and leg. Delfin managed to drive out of the line of fire and radio for help. He remained in good condition Wednesday at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.

Also wounded was a 45-year-old woman, who is seven months pregnant. Bullets pierced the walls of her Lime Avenue home, striking her several times. She was reported in good condition at Kaiser Hospital in Bellflower.

Although other Long Beach officers have been killed in the line of duty, Black is the first to be shot to death since 1976.

As memorial arrangements were made final Wednesday, investigators released new details about the arrests of four people in connection the attack. The suspects are in Long Beach City Jail and the jail ward of County-USC Medical Center.

Booked on murder charges Tuesday night was Ramon Sandoval Jr., 19. He surrendered earlier that day after police and SWAT team members surrounded his home on North Spring Avenue in Compton. Two others, including Sandoval’s father, were detained for questioning and released.

Police said they recovered an assault-style weapon during a search of Sandoval’s home, which is a three-room converted garage. They also impounded a red compact car, which matches the color of the small sedan witnesses said they saw leaving the crime scene.

Tuesday evening, authorities arrested three more suspects in Compton, including one who was wounded by police when he and the others reportedly tried to flee. An officer shot the young man about 6:40 p.m. in the 700 block of Sloan Avenue.

Sgt. Steve Filippini, a Long Beach Police Department spokesman, said the man was a murder suspect and took actions the officers perceived as threatening. No weapon was found on him, Filippini said.

Also wounded in the shooting was a 14-year-old boy, who suffered minor injuries when a ricocheting bullet shattered a window in his house. Police said Wednesday that he was treated at a hospital and released.

After the suspect was shot, about 100 law enforcement officials searched a 12-block area of the neighborhood for two other men. Police said the men had barricaded themselves inside a house on Poinsettia Avenue, holding the residents against their will.

Negotiators finally persuaded the two to surrender after a four-hour standoff, said Officer David Marander, a Police Department spokesman. The names of the other suspects were not available late Wednesday.

Police said one was arrested on suspicion of murder, another on parole violations and the third on charges of false imprisonment stemming from the standoff with police.

“We are pretty confident that the two murder suspects were involved in the shooting,” Filippini said. “Other arrests may follow, depending on how our investigation goes. We are still talking to people.”