Los Angeles police identify shooter in slaying of off-duty officer, charges filed

A 20-year-old Murrieta man fired the shots that led to the death of a young off-duty Los Angeles police officer who was eating with friends at their truck in Lincoln Heights more than a week ago, authorities said Tuesday, Aug. 6.

Cristian Facundo, a suspected gang member who was arrested with two others in Riverside County on Friday, Aug. 2, was charged with one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder with a special circumstance allegation of murder while being active participants in a criminal street gang, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said.

Facundo allegedly ran up on a truck occupied by LAPD Officer Juan Jose Diaz, his girlfriend and her two brothers before opening fire, killing Diaz and wounding one of the other men in the back seat, authorities said during a Tuesday afternoon news conference.

Fellow suspected gang member Francisco Talamantes, a 23-year-old Temecula resident, faces the same charges and also allegedly ran up to the truck during the shooting, authorities said.

Ashlynn Smith, an 18-year-old Temecula resident, faces one count of shooting at an occupied motor vehicle, vandalism and being an accessory after the fact, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors will decide later whether or not to pursue the death penalty against the defendants.

Los Angeles police outlined a timeline for a 90-minute crime spree by the three suspects — along with a fourth person, a Los Angeles woman in her 20s who was not named by authorities — during the news conference. All the crimes were in Glassell Park or Lincoln Heights.

“This did not occur in isolation,” LAPD Chief Michel Moore said. “This was part of a larger crime spree.”

After the fatal shooting, the suspects traveled to the 2500 block of Avenue 33 and attempted to kill at least one other man, the ex-boyfriend of one of the women, Capt. Billy Hayes of the Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division said.

The gun malfunctioned, however, and the suspects fled.

The string of crime began shortly after midnight in the 2500 block of Avenue 33, where the suspects vandalized the ex-boyfriend’s car, Hayes said. They then vandalized a nearby business in the 3200 block of Eagle Rock Boulevard before the fatal shooting occurred about three miles south at Taco Alley in the 3300 block of Artesian Street just after 1 a.m.

Diaz grew up in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood, Moore said. When he confronted the suspects, who were tagging graffiti on a nearby sidewalk, investigators said he was trying to stand up for his community.

Diaz “said something to the effect of ‘Don’t mess with my neighborhood,’” Hayes said.

The off-duty cop was armed during the encounter, but never pulled out his weapon, Hayes said.

Once Diaz and his group decided they should leave the area and got in their truck, the suspects opened fire from behind through the rear right window, which was open, police said. At that point, investigators said Diaz was defenseless.

Diaz “didn’t have an opportunity to (use his weapon,)” Hayes said.

Both Diaz and the other victim were shot once. Moore said the surviving victim had been released from the hospital, but was still recovering with “substantial facial injuries.”

Immediately after the shooting, the victims turned right on Avenue 26, found a patrol car and flagged the officers to get medical aid. Diaz died at the scene.

Smith then allegedly drove Facundo and Talamantes back to Avenue 33, where they attempted to shoot the ex-boyfriend at a residence, authorities said.

Facundo, Talamantes and Smith were arrested nearly a week later, Aug. 2, after early-morning raids in southwest Riverside County.

They were identified as suspects through witness statements, victim statements and surveillance video, Hayes said.

Though all three suspects are from Riverside County, police identified the primary suspect, Facundo, as claiming membership to a northeast L.A. gang.

Answering how the suspects could be tied to a neighborhood gang almost 75 miles away from where they live, Moore said police have seen an increase in people identifying as “multi-generational gang members” whose families have moved all over the region.

He said police are now seeing the children of Los Angeles gang members moving back to the city’s neighborhoods and “celebrating their lineage.”

Moore did not say how Facundo was connected to the gang. He also didn’t say which gang, though multiple media reports have identified the gang as the Avenues.

Meanwhile, at a Tuesday meeting, the Los Angeles Police Commission paused to honor Diaz as well as other victims in a pair of mass shootings Saturday, Aug. 3.

“So many victims of these senseless shootings,” Commission President Steve Soboroff said at the start of the meeting. “I saw today that one of the biggest back-to-school sellers is bullet-proof backpacks for kids, being sold in stores that also sell guns? Let’s take a moment of silence.”

Speaking to the commission, Moore called Diaz’s death “a great loss.”

“It is a moment of grief that we continue to go through. I’ve spoken with the family members, who are absolutely devastated,” Moore said. “We’ve also seen violence in this country of what people think is an immeasurable amount. However, it would be a false narrative to say that this is some new waterline. This organization is working with our retailers, with our business establishments and … places where people gather to have added presence.”

Funeral services for Diaz are set for 9 a.m. Monday, Aug. 12, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles.

Moore said the LAPD is continuing its outreach to Latino communities in Los Angeles, noting that the gunman in the recent mass shooting in El Paso had expressed anti-immigration views and referenced white supremacist literature.

The chief said the department will work to identify people who may be capable of mass shootings and try to get them to mental health services to try to prevent a recurrence of such events.

“If there are instances (where officers can help in) persuading or redirecting those energies to some other path, that’s what our desire is as law enforcement,” Moore said.

The LAPD has a Mental Evaluation Unit that addresses calls for mental health assistance. More information on the unit is online at www.lapdonline.org.

Eric Heinz of City News Service contributed to this report.