Innocent man killed during LASD shootout with armed carjacking suspect in Norwalk
NORWALK, Calif. - Family, friends and the California Attorney General's Office are demanding answers after an innocent man was found dead outside a home where a gunman was shot by Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies in Norwalk.
The victim’s daughter blames the sheriff’s department for her father’s death.
"I believe that if they would’ve listened to my pleas of searching for my father from the beginning… my dad would probably be alive right now," Maria Lopez, daughter of victim Pedro Lopez, told FOX 11.
Pedro Lopez
The chaos unfolded Thursday night in the 12100 block of Foster Road after a shootout with deputies at a suspect wanted for attempted carjacking. The suspect was shot by deputies but was still able to make it inside a home.
RELATED: Possibly armed carjacking suspect taken into custody in Norwalk
The daughter of the man found dead in a backyard in Norwalk said that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department didn’t listen to her pleas when she tried to tell him that her father was still inside the home that they said was evacuated.
"'I feel like somebody's there, that my dad is still there, can they just look?' I called back three times within four hours," Maria Lopez told FOX 11.
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She claims the sheriff's department failed to listen to her pleas. Hours later, the suspect was arrested, and that's when deputies found the 67-year-old's body in the backyard. It appears he suffered trauma wounds to his upper torso and now his daughter wants answers.
Authorities confirmed that the victim died of gunshot wounds, so now investigators are working to determine whether the fatal bullet came from deputies or the armed carjacking suspect.
The investigation is ongoing.
No deputies were hurt in the incident, the LASD said.
Anyone with information on the case was urged to call the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.
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