LAPD Bullet Killed Girl in Clash

LAPD Bullet Killed Girl in Clash
# Autopsy results show Suzie Marie Peña was hit by SWAT officers' gunfire in a shootout that also left her father, Jose Raul Peña, dead.

By Megan Garvey and Jill Leovy, Times Staff Writers

A police officer fired the shot that killed a 19-month-old girl held hostage by her father at a Watts auto lot, according to autopsy results released Wednesday.

Police officials from the start said it was most likely that an officer's bullet killed the toddler — an outcome they have described as tragic, but that they also blamed squarely on the suspect, who shot at police and his teenage stepdaughter during the more than two-hour standoff Sunday.

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The suspect, Jose Raul Peña, 34, died of multiple gunshot wounds. His daughter, Suzie Marie Peña, was shot once in the head.

Expressing "great regret," Police Chief William J. Bratton said "it appears that our officers, while engaged in their lawful duty, may have, in fact, taken her life."

"Believe me, as chief of police and for the officers involved, it is very tough to deal with that," Bratton said at a news conference to discuss findings of a preliminary inquiry into the shootout events.

The findings confirmed police officials' worst fears about how the toddler — initially identified as Susie Lopez — died.

But many questions about the circumstances of the shooting are still unanswered, including the identity and position of the shooter who fatally hit Suzie and how the child came to be in the line of fire.

Bratton, in an interview, gave the most detailed account yet of the incident but said he did not yet know what had transpired in the crucial final moments of the standoff.

The body of Peña, who owned the business, was found near his desk in the makeshift office, where, according to witnesses, he had retreated, firing through its thin walls on officers who stormed Raul's Auto Sales.

The officers had expected to find a wounded Peña down behind the back door.

Toxicology results for Peña, who police have said had ingested cocaine and alcohol at the time of the shootout, were not yet complete.

Officials who viewed the scene said at first that Suzie was found near the door to the office, but on Wednesday they said SWAT team members had apparently moved her body to help her before realizing she was dead.

Bratton said that a complete investigation into the gun battle would be both "complex and lengthy," and consist of two parts: one to determine if there was criminal wrongdoing on the part of police and another to review tactics.

He said he knew of no evidence that any police officers had broken the law.

He said that over the nearly 40-year history of the LAPD's SWAT team — which has conducted 4,000 operations — Suzie's death marked only the second time "an innocent life" had been lost.

Eleven officers fired weapons at the scene, and 35 additional officers were witnesses. Thirty-five civilian witnesses have been identified.

Bratton said police also are looking for two auto lot employees believed to have been at the scene when police responded to a 911 call from Peña's 16-year-old stepdaughter.

Nine cameras on the premises captured about 27 hours of videotaped footage of both Peña's and officers' actions, Bratton said.

When officers first arrived they were met by the teenage stepdaughter and Peña, who then went into the dealership and reemerged shooting, the chief said.

The stepdaughter, whose name has not been released, escaped under cover of police fire as Peña continued to shoot, officials said.


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