The suspect accused of fatally shooting two people including a Baldwin Park police officer over the weekend has been identified as 22-year-old Eduardo Roberto Medina-Berumen, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said Monday.
Two law enforcement sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the active investigation, said Medina-Berumen has no known criminal history. He lives with his mother at the Baldwin Park address on Filhurst Street where gunfire erupted Saturday night, a source said.
Baldwin Park police responded to the home around 7 p.m. and were met with gunfire. Two officers —Samuel Riveros and Anthony Pimentel — were struck and were rushed to a hospital. Riveros, 35, of Pasadena did not survive.
Officers also found a man suffering from fatal gunshot wounds in the front yard of the home where the suspect was found. That man, who has not been identified, was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. It was not immediately clear when the person was shot but L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said they believed the suspect was responsible.
Medina-Berumen, who was taken into custody after the shooting, was wounded by police but is listed in stable condition, authorities said. It was not immediately clear if he had legal representation. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office had not filed charges as of late Monday morning.
Eduardo Medina, who identified himself to a Times reporter on Sunday as the suspect’s father, said he first learned about his son’s arrest, the killings and the shootout from his daughter.
“I don’t understand,” the elder Medina said. “It’s so sad. It’s not good. It’s not good at all.”
Medina said his son lived on Filhurst Street with his ex-wife, from whom he’d separated 15 years ago. About five months ago, he said, his ex-wife told him she’d called police because their son was “acting weird.”
Medina said he didn’t know what that meant, but his ex-wife told him the police arrested their son and confiscated a gun.
Investigators are still working to determine a motive in the shooting.
Juan Ruvalcaba, 81, who lives across the street from where the shooting began Saturday night, said he initially thought he was hearing firecrackers, but then saw his neighbor shooting what appeared to be long gun. He said the young man was in his own front yard and seemed to be shooting into the air and in the direction of a different street — but he didn’t see the man aiming at anyone or anything in particular.
Still, he said, he called the man’s grandmother, who lived with him, and warned her to hide under a bed and not let her grandson inside.
Ruvalcaba also went inside his house, so he didn’t see what happened next, but was shaken by news of the two deaths. “Thank God that I’m still here,” Ruvalcaba said.
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