Family disputes shooting details

Family members and authorities differed sharply Sunday in their portrayal of what happened when a man was shot and killed by a park ranger in Tapia Park near Malibu.

Officials said the man, Onesimo Arturo Guzman, threatened the ranger’s life at the park Saturday. But the slain man’s siblings accused the ranger of shooting their brother “in cold blood.”

After gunshots were reported in the hills of Tapia Park on Saturday, a ranger who responded saw Guzman, 29, in a car with three other men, California Parks and Recreation spokesman Roy Stearns said at a news conference at the park on Sunday.

Stearns said the ranger repeatedly asked Guzman to stop the car, but Guzman continued moving, bumping one of the ranger’s legs with the vehicle.

The ranger, who believed that his life was in danger, shot and killed Guzman around 3 p.m. Officials did not provide further details of the shooting but said the ranger had been placed on paid administrative leave.

But Guzman’s younger siblings came to the park service’s news conference and told a different story.

Joe Guzman, 24, the dead man’s brother, said Guzman had gone to the park with his friends to relax.

Joe Guzman said that one of his brother’s three passengers called him to tell him how his brother was shot.

He believes Guzman did stop his car when the ranger asked him to.

The ranger was banging on the hood of the car and acting extremely nervous, fumbling with the instruments on his vest and belt while he tried to talk with the men, Joe Guzman said.

Onesimo Arturo Guzman raised his hands and asked the ranger “What are we doing?” and then the officer shot him, his younger brother said. The three other men in the car, fearing for their lives, jumped out and began running away, Joe Guzman said.

“They just destroyed our family,” said Krystal Guzman, 20, who had effectively taken over the news conference, demanding information from officials, such as “Did the suspect receive medical aid at that moment?” and “What is the procedure to inform the family?”

Guzman’s siblings pleaded for any witnesses to come forward with more information.

Authorities Sunday said they had little information about the shooting but said the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was conducting a homicide investigation and the California Department of Parks and Recreation was also looking into the case.

The three other men in Guzman’s car were chased by authorities, taken briefly into custody and released, said California Department of Parks and Recreation District Supt. Ronald P. Schafer, who attended the news conference with Stearns.

The ranger who shot Guzman did not have to be hospitalized or treated for any injuries, authorities said.

“There’s a lot that we still don’t know,” Stearns said.

Stearns and Schafer deflected most questions Sunday about the details of the shooting, saying it was too early in their investigation to know.

The investigations would be thorough and complete, Stearns said.

Joe and Krystal Guzman hugged each other as they grieved over their brother’s death.

They said they drove to the news conference at Malibu Creek State Park from their home in South Los Angeles because they wanted to demand answers.

The siblings said they planned to get an attorney to investigate further and explore legal options.

Their brother had been released from prison about eight months earlier, Joe Guzman said.

“He had been in too much trouble,” Guzman said about his brother. “He never wanted to go back to prison.”

Court records show that an Onesimo Arturo Guzman with the same birth date as the one provided by Guzman’s family had been convicted of assaulting a peace officer, resisting arrest and stealing a vehicle.

Family members said Guzman had recently served a sentence of about five years.

He had tried to turn his life around, working with his father at a welding shop and attending community college in Long Beach with hopes of becoming an electrician, they said.

ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com