3 suspects arrested in killing of off-duty LAPD officer a week ago at taco stand

Authorities arrested three suspects on Friday wanted in the killing of an off-duty LAPD officer who was gunned down in Lincoln Heights nearly a week ago.

The arrests were made in the general area of Murrieta in Riverside County, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Warrants also were served in parts of Los Angeles County, including in the Glassell Park and Mt. Washington areas.

“These are the folks that we believe are responsible for that senseless murder of Juan Diaz,” said LAPD Assistant Chief Beatrice Girmala.

The suspects are in their 20s, Girmala said. Their names were not immediately released.

The early morning actions were taken by members of the LAPD’s SWAT team and Metropolitan Division, along with personnel from the Murrieta Police Department.

Diaz, 24, was fatally shot early Saturday morning after he confronted a group of taggers near a taco stand while he was off duty in the area of Avenue 26 and Artesian Street.

According to NBC4, a raid in Mt. Washington took place about a mile from the scene where the killing occurred, and a raid in Murrieta took place in a neighborhood where one suspect had been tracked earlier this week.

Diaz had been assigned to the Special Operations Division unit of the Professional Standards Bureau, or internal affairs, though all indications were that the shooting was unrelated to his secretive work, law enforcement sources told NBC4.