D.A.’s office honors siblings taken hostage by man suspected in killing of sheriff’s sergeant
Nancy Arrowsmith-Hart and Trevor Hart, now 20 and 18, were among several Los Angeles County residents presented with Courageous Citizens awards Wednesday by Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey at a ceremony in Pasadena.
As news broke that the man suspected of killing a Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant was thought to be hiding in her Lancaster neighborhood, Sara Arrowsmith received a text that still haunts her months later: “He’s in the house, Mom.”
Minutes earlier, according to prosecutors, Trenton Trevon Lovell had wounded Sgt. Steve Owen, then stood over the officer before pumping four fatal shots into his body. Then for 90 tense minutes, Arrowsmith said, he by turns threatened and sought help from her son and daughter.
Nancy Arrowsmith-Hart and Trevor Hart, now 20 and 18, were among several Los Angeles County residents presented with Courageous Citizen Awards on Wednesday by Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey at a ceremony in Pasadena.
“Their quick thinking saved, not only themselves, but also others,” Lacey said.
By the time a wounded Lovell broke into Arrowsmith’s house, his shirt was soaked in blood. He told Nancy and Trevor that he had been robbed and needed medical help, authorities said.
The siblings gave Lovell a change of clothes, but he refused to leave and threatened them at knife-point, Arrowsmith told The Times in an interview last year.
Eventually, Nancy faked a panic attack — creating a diversion that allowed Trevor to message his mother.
Deputies were able to pinpoint Lovell’s location and closed in. When the suspect stepped outside, Trevor locked him out of the house.
Lovell, 27, was arrested and charged with gunning down Owen in October after the sergeant responded to a reported break-in. L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell called it “a calculated execution.”
A preliminary hearing in the case will be scheduled on Thursday.
Though her children were not hurt, Arrowsmith said, the events of that day have had an effect on the family. Nancy and her parents have entered counseling, and Trevor has begun taking mixed martial arts classes.
“The sounds of helicopters, I don’t think any of us like them anymore because that’s all we heard that day. But they’re OK,” she said of her children. “They’re amazing. They’re strong.”
The district attorney on Wednesday also presented awards to Angelica, Sergio and Javier Hernandez of Duarte, who fought off a man who was beating his wife with a belt and ripping at her hair.
The victim in the May 2015 incident refused to testify, but the Hernandez family’s statements ultimately led the man to plead no contest to kidnapping and spousal abuse, prosecutors said. He was sentenced to three years in state prison.
Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
