Former Officer Sentenced in Killing of Ex-Sports Star

An ex-LAPD officer was sentenced Thursday to 15 years to life in state prison for killing a former USC basketball star.

Angela Shepard, 38, pleaded no contest last month to second-degree murder in connection with the Aug. 24 shooting death of 28-year-old Audrey Gomez. In exchange, the district attorney’s office agreed to dismiss two felony counts--possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of ammunition.

She could be eligible for parole in 13 years, prosecutors said.

“She admitted killing the victim and certainly accepted the consequences of what she did,” said district attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons.

Gomez’s body, which had two gunshot wounds in the chest, was found in the back seat of her own car in an affluent Whittier neighborhood. Shepard was arrested by Whittier police after a sheriff’s bloodhound led detectives to her home a couple miles away from the car.

Shepard supervised Gomez at a residential center for troubled youths in Los Angeles.

Shepard’s attorney, Bill Seki, said his client is “extremely remorseful for her actions.”

Gomez, a New Jersey native, lived in Canyon Country and had played basketball for Notre Dame and USC.

Shepard worked as an officer for the Los Angeles Police Department from 1989 to 1995, when she was fired after pleading no contest to making a terrorist threat against another officer. In that case, she was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to stay away from the officer.