Deputy’s Attacker Shot by Officers

A man attacked a sheriff’s deputy at a Montebello burger restaurant Monday with a machete, nearly severing his finger, before another deputy shot and wounded him, authorities said.

Reuben Sifuentes, 30, became the ninth person in nine days to be shot by police in Los Angeles County, five of them fatally

His shooting came a day after a 25-year-old Carson man who had threatened a girlfriend with a knife was shot and killed by a deputy.

Monday’s shooting occurred about noon when Sifuentes walked up to a uniformed deputy who was eating lunch with two plainclothes colleagues in Astro Burger at 3421 W. Beverly Blvd., authorities said.

“The man produced a machete and took a whack at the uniformed deputy, and another deputy shot the suspect in the upper body,” Lt. Gil Carrillo said. “This guy just walked up and attacked the deputy. We don’t know why right now.”

Sifuentes was expected to survive. The deputy, Carrillo said, had a serious hand injury.

The string of officer-involved shootings has occurred against a backdrop of steadily increasing use of guns by sheriff’s deputies.

In 2004 deputies fired their guns on 58 occasions, compared to 38 occasions in 2002 and 33 in 2001, said Michael Gennaco, head of the Office of Independent Review, which examines deputies’ conduct for the county.

About 1:30 p.m. Sunday, sheriff deputies were called to 24000 Fries Ave. in Carson, where a woman allegedly had been stabbed by her boyfriend. Deputy Luis Castro said that as the suspect fled on foot, deputies blocked off the surrounding neighborhood. The man then tried to stab a deputy, Castro said. As the man advanced, the deputy shot him in the upper body, Castro said

Coroner’s Capt. David Campbell said the man, whose identity was withheld pending notification of kin, died at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.