Big Shootout in L.A. County Leaves Sheriffs Deputy Wounded & One Dead

Lawndale, CA. - At about 10:30pm on Tuesday November 3rd, gunshots rang off a few streets down from my home. Numerous gunshots…and a lot of them! I went outside and heard sirens blaring and not long after that came the helicopters. First, let me tell you Lawndale is in the South Bay of Los Angeles County. I would call it a middle class community on the slow verge of losing rank. Property value is much lower than the neighboring city of Torrance, but higher than the other of lower class Hawthorne. Its right in the middle. Gangs and drugs are a problem but the racial tensions between Hispanic and African Americans continue to grow. This is evident by the continued race riots in the multiple high schools. Yes, I said high schools. There starting to hate young these days.

Back to the subject at hand, the shooting. I brought up the lay of the land to give you a feel of the atmosphere. Helicopters flying low and shining lights through home windows are becoming more frequent these days. (10-31-09) So as I said, I went outside to be nosey and watched the helicopters circle there prey. I got bored after 20 minutes so I went inside and turned on the news. There it was, BREAKING NEWS with the birds eye view. Sure enough there had been a shooting and a million police cars with sirens blaring populated the street.

I live on 169th St….the shooting started on 166th St and ended on 168th St. According to the news, a mans mother called 911 stating her 29 year old son Juan Carlos Aguilar had a meltdown and was brandishing a gun. He was possible on drugs. The Lawndale Sheriffs Deputies responded and found him. Reports and witnesses say that Aguilar did have a gun and appeared "agitated". Its unclear what happened next other than the fact that shots were fired and the battle took place between over a 300 ft stretch. When the gunpowder smoke cleared, Aguilar lay dead on 168th and Prairie and one Sheriffs Deputy was wounded. He had been shot in the shoulder and the back. His bullet proof vest had stopped the bullet from entering his back and saved his life. One bullet did hit him in the shoulder. He was taken to the hospital in Torrance where he was released the next day.

The shooting continues to be investigated by multiple law enforcement agencies. It is unclear who fired the first shot. One thing is clear by the pictures of the crime scene though, at least 100 rounds had been fired. Residents in the area said that they heard many shots and looked outside to see officers "continuously" firing at Aguilar. They didn’t understand why the officers wouldn’t stop shooting. The wounded deputies name has not been release yet.

This is another sad story of violence and death. Regardless of who fired first, a mother lost her son...a mother who called the police because she wanted to get him help. officer involved shootings are frequent and common in Los Angeles County. In fact, in all of 2008 there were only 5 fatal shootings that involved deputy sheriffs in Los Angeles. The statistic for this year is alarming. By September of this year, the officer involved "fatal" shootings had more than doubled to 13 with three months remaining in the year. I don’t know what's happened since September throughout the county but I know they can add one more body to there count with Aguilar's death.