L.A. Deputy Dies in Artesia Shooting

A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy was shot and killed Saturday morning when a bullet passed through an opening in his protective vest as he responded to a possible hostage situation at an Artesia home.

Six hours after Deputy David Powell was shot, authorities fired tear gas and stormed the home after failing to get any response. They found the body of a man who had been shot in the upper torso, said sheriff’s spokesman David Cervantes.

Officials had not determined whether the man had been shot by deputies or if the wound was self-inflicted. They did not say if he was the person who killed the 42-year-old Powell, an 18-year veteran of the department.

“We have lost a great veteran, a great hero, a man who did his job to the best of his ability,” an emotional Sheriff Lee Baca told reporters at St. Francis Medical Center, where Powell died.

Powell and three other deputies responded to a call of shots fired in the 11000 block of 165th Street in Norwalk, which borders Artesia, at 10:30 a.m. A sheriff’s helicopter and witnesses told deputies that they saw at least one man running to the home in the 12000 block of 167th Street, where Powell was shot.

At the nearby home, the deputies saw an armed man holding a woman against her will, authorities said.

As Powell kicked in the door, the woman fled to safety and the deputy was shot once, the bullet entering his right arm and moving down the seam of his bulletproof vest, where it punctured his chest, Sheriff’s Lt. Carl Deeley said.

A deputy fired at least one shot into the house, officials said. Then another deputy dragged the mortally wounded officer away. Powell was rushed to the Lynwood hospital where he died 90 minutes later.

After the area was cordoned off and some nearby residents evacuated, more than 100 deputies combed the neighborhood looking for possible accomplices. A negotiation team and SWAT were at the scene, which is about 25 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles off the 91 Freeway.

At least two people have been detained for questioning, authorities said. Others also may be involved, officials said, but no arrests have been made.

Powell is the second sheriff’s deputy killed while on duty this year. Deputy David March, 33, was gunned down April 29 by a man he had stopped for a traffic violation in Irwindale.

The latest shooting comes at a time when the region has been racked by violence -- especially in Los Angeles. A spate of recent killings, many in South Los Angeles, where 20 people died in November, caused L.A. Police Chief William J. Bratton to challenge residents and law enforcement officers to get angry about the killings.

So far this year, 615 people have been slain in the city of Los Angeles.

Baca said Powell enjoyed counseling youths to stay away from crime and drugs. “After he became a deputy, [Powell] found that his second love was teaching,” Baca said.

Powell’s message to teens was, “Just don’t do it,” Baca said. Colleagues described the deputy as a hard worker who was devoted to his family and well-liked on the job.

“He was one of our more experienced officers at Lakewood (sheriff’s station),” said Sgt. Bill Conley, who worked with Powell. “He was a generally light-hearted guy, always there to pick people’s spirits up if they were down, and he always had a joke at the end of his tongue.”

Powell lived in Torrance with his wife, Emma, and their 7-year-old daughter, whom they adopted when she was 9 months old. He is also survived by three adult stepdaughters, seven grandchildren, his parents and a twin brother.

“He’s the only father we’ve had,” said stepdaughter Amanda Alvira, 27, who cried over the phone as she spoke. “He’s always the first in line to help. He’s so easygoing and happy all the time, and always telling stories about work,” she said.

Alvira said Powell loved his job because he was able to help people and save lives. “He didn’t want to be behind the desk,” she said.

Alvira said her stepfather was looking forward to celebrating he and his wife’s 12th wedding anniversary in January. The couple recently bought a motor home to travel across the country together. They had just recently returned from a vacation to Ohio.

“He loved camping and boating with his kids,” Alvira said. “Anything with the family. That’s what his life was.”

Powell graduated from Junipero Serra High School in Gardena and took courses at El Camino College and Loyola Marymount University. He joined the Sheriff’s Department in 1984, and worked at the Men’s Central Jail. He also worked at the Pitchess Detention Center, Firestone Park sheriff’s station and, most recently, the Lakewood sheriff’s station, where he served since 1988.

Cervantes said the Sheriff’s Department is shocked over the killing.

“I worked through Jake Kuredjian and David March, the most recent two we lost in the department, and it really hits home,” Cervantes said. “It is just like losing a family member.”

Kuredjian was killed Aug. 31, 2001, after a former police officer with a criminal record shot him during a gun battle in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Powell is the fifth sheriff’s deputy killed while on duty in the last three years. Four died in shootings and one was killed in a motorcycle accident, deputies said.

Artesia is a bedroom community of 16,000 people where some residents can trace their roots back generations.

Census statistics portray a city rich in cultural diversity: Almost half of Artesia’s residents are foreign-born, and nearly two-thirds speak a language other than English at home.

The city’s many ethnic restaurants and shops pay tribute to both its original Dutch and Portuguese residents and newer arrivals from China, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, among other places.

A thriving “Little India” along Pioneer Boulevard, just south of the 91 Freeway, abounds with sari shops, appliance stores and Indian restaurants.

Alejandra Hernandez lives near the single-story home where the shooting occurred.

“This is a quiet street. I can’t believe this happened,” said Hernandez, who has lived in the neighborhood for 10 years.

Lilly Regalado, who also lives nearby, said deputies told her and her daughter to leave the area around 11 a.m.

“I saw the sheriff being put in the police car,” she said. “He was clutching his arm. They [deputies] were yelling and screaming and scrambling around.... They put him in a police car and took off immediately.”

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Staff writers Cara Mia DiMassa, Anthony McCartney and Robert J. Lopez contributed to this report.