A gunman first shot and wounded a Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant before standing over him and pumping four bullets into his body, Sheriff Jim McDonnell says.
(FOX)- The new comments came Thursday in the death of Sgt. Steven Owen, which McDonnell called a “calculated execution.”
The 53-year-old Owen was shot while responding to a report of a burglary in progress Wednesday at an apartment building in Lancaster.
Owen went behind the building, where the gunman shot him with a stolen gun then stood over his body and fired four more times, McDonnell said at a news conference.
“He then unsuccessfully searched the body for the sergeant’s weapon, with the intent to use it to murder the first responding deputy,” the sheriff said.
Trenton Trevon Lovell, 27, of Lancaster was arrested in the killing.
Authorities said he pointed a gun at a deputy who responded and was shot in the shoulder before stealing Owens’ patrol car, backing up and ramming another patrol car with it.
Lovell was treated for his wound and remained jailed without bail. It was not clear if he has an attorney.
McDonnell rejected any suggestion that Lovell, who is black, may have shot in self-defense — a question apparently prompted by controversy over recent shootings of young black men in police confrontations.
“This is an individual that was certainly the aggressor, somebody who is truly a predator, and not somebody who was defending himself in any manner,” McDonnell said.
Lovell has been arrested a dozen times, including one on suspicion of selling marijuana when he was a juvenile. He has also served two state prison sentences, McDonnell said.
(Photo Credit: AP/Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department via Fox News)