CNN.COM
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — The 19-month-old toddler who died during a gunfire exchange between police and her father was killed by a single police bullet to the head, the Los Angeles County coroner said Wednesday.
My heart bleeds for the mother of this beautiful child whose life was snuffed out by overzealous SWAT idiots. Could not one sniper get a clear head shot of this child's father? Eleven police officers unloaded 90 rounds towards these two. In my opinion, all 11 should be brought up on first degree murder charges for the murder of this child.
CNN.COM
Chief William Bratton said Monday that Pena "left the officers no choice."
BUFFALO CHIPS!
These SWAT teams have the technology and resources to take this guy out without harming the baby. They have tear gas. They have concussion grenades. They have flash grenades. Any of these could have been used to disable the father.
Senseless, Senseless, Senseless.....
Edited: LI
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Matt
umm...first degree murder? Doesn't that require premeditation? I think you're going a bit far.
Don't get me wrong--as the father of a 3 year old, I feel awful about it and the cops cleared erred. But any charged should be tempered with some reason.
2 - mojoala
ok, maybe I was a little hasty in suggesting 1st degree. None-the-less there was no need for all to open fire...
3 - Ben
Chief Bratton should be ashamed of himself for blaming the family of the victim in this case.
4 - mojoala
Yes he should be!!!!!!!!!!!!
5 - HE!D!
The father is the only one to blame. He had previously threatened the mother, his older daughter, and the baby. He didn't care two hoots about his own child's life. He used that baby as a shield. He's an evil, sick, despicable man - and thank g-d he's DEAD.
6 - mojoala
too bad there is not any video footage on this to see what happened....
7 - HE!D!
To try and remedy the above author's apparent misunderstanding over what REALLY happened, allow me to assist:
Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that Pena was an ILLEGAL Salvadoran who had been previously deported for cocaine possession? He was an alien FELON!
Ahh yes, and that POOR GRIEVING mother? Well, she's got herself a lawyer - you can expect a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the LAPD and the LA taxpayers in the near future. They'll be paying for a murder committed by a man who wasn't even supposed to be here!
Now you know the rest of the story.
8 - confused
Can someone shove this story under the nose of the people on the other threads talking about "father's rights", please.
Wrong for the cops to open fire and kill this child, just plain wrong.
9 - mojoala
yes it is just plain wrong. So many options were completely ignored.
10 - E L Frederick
Ok, let me see here... guy holding a baby, shooting at cops, illegal, drunk and high....
I'd say the cops showed remarked restraint for letting it go on for an hour and a half.
Sucide by Swat Team.
Oh, the poor mother, oh the poor baby... WHATEVER! The father was an Illegal and a crackhead. What kind of a future did the child have when the father is obiviously a violent nut.
Why don't you stop monday night quarterbacking and put on a uniform and see how you DO under fire from the enraged insaniacs.
11 - andy marsh
Nope, it's all bush's fault...if the SOB had closed the borders, this guy would never have gotten back into the country...
12 - mojoala
well that is one way to look at it.
13 - andy marsh
it was meant to be sarcasm?!??!!
14 - mojoala
How many of you would be singing a different song and dance, if the man had grab someone's elses baby(for example, your own child) to use as a shield, and that someone's elses baby got killed?
15 - andy marsh
you're right mojoala...they should have just gave him more ammo and waited until he got tired of shooting up the neighborhood!
It is a shame that a baby had to lose her life over an asshole of a father..but the father shouldn't have been in the country in the first place...do you suppose that mommy and big sister new he was in the country and never bothered to call INS or any other law enforcement agency...until it was to their benefit to do so???
just a thought...
16 - E L Frederick
If the guy had even attempted to grab my kid(s) he would of been dead before he hit the ground.
I don't have to calls the cops until after the shooting is over. It's called criminal tresspassing, breaking and entering, and self defense.
If my dog hadn't been enough to distract him, my wife is a better shot than I am.
However, the guy is dead, he killed the infant by his own actions. The cops had no choice and were as patient with him as they could be.
Don't drink and drive, don't drink and wave a pistol around, don't use cocaine and wave a pistol around, don't drink and use cocaine and wave a pistol around, and especially, don't drink, use cocaine, hold an infant, and shoot at cops.
Doesn't take a 2nd grader to figure out that math. Even Forrest Gump could seen that coming.
"Stupid is as stupid does."
17 - mojoala
If this was a perfect world, but it is not and never will be.
18 - E L Frederick
What does this not being a perfect world have to do with anything?
If this was a perfect world the father wouldn't of been high on coke, or drunk, and would of been a "Fred McMurry" kind of dad. Life would be "My Three Sons".
In a perfect world there wouldn't be a need for policeman or firemen, other than to rescue cats from trees.
Whites and coloreds could be washed together, and the whole world would sing in perfect harmony while holding cola products.
You have to play the hand you got dealt. It may suck, you may have a fist full of nothing, then again you may end up with a pair or a full house. In the end, your only playing against yourself.
19 - mojoala
I will ask again:
How many of you would be singing a different song and dance, if the man had grab someone's elses baby(for example, your own child) to use as a shield, and that someone's elses baby got killed?
20 - Nancy
The song would be the same: the fault lies entirely w/Lopez, not the cops. BTW, the whole family is a nest of illegals, so IMO they ALL deserve shooting just on general principle that they're all lawbreakers. For those to whom this is a little extreme, at the least they should be booted out of the county immediately. But I don't weep for the death of any illegal. It's part of the chance they take.
21 - mojoala
An attitude like that could go a long way.
I am against speeders, so if I see you speeding down the road, you are a lawbreaker so by your logic I can kill you because you deserve being shot just on general principle that you are a lawbreaker, or at a minimum boot you out of the country immediately.
Some of are without a doubt, descendents of illegal immigrants at some point in time. Not all came thru Ellis Island. So should you be evicted from this country because your ancestor came here illegally? Yes by your logic, you inherited the crime from your descendants.
22 - Nancy
Absolutely yes, I agree, it applies to me too. And yes, I think speeders deserve whatever they get, too. I too often see them walking away while their innocent victims are maimed or killed. Which is why I don't speed, & do my damnedest to obey the laws: precisely because I DON'T consider myself exempt, above, or outside the law. It couldn't apply to illegal ancestors, since anyone born in the US, according to current US law, is a US citizen. So the baby is NOT illegal. She has a right to be here; but her parents do not. I personally would prefer we amend the law so that those born of illegals are not automatically US citizens just because they happen to be born here. Most countries do not automatically confer citizenship status on those born within the borders if the parents are not citizens; only the idiot US does that. That would have the effect of shortcircuiting a lot of illegals who come here to give birth just because it then confers citizen status on their kids & indirectly gives them a toehold claim on staying.
I don't resent & dislike these people because they're foreign; I resent & dislike them because they're ILLEGAL. They come here beginning w/the premise that they don't give a rat's ass for our laws, they don't respect basic rules & courtesies, to other would-be immigrants who DO observe the laws not least. On that premise alone I would deport them all. As for illegals who are also criminals, I would declare open season for all vigilantes, and frankly I think criminals like Lopez should be shot on sight, by anyone who has the lead.
23 - mojoala
But according as I understand the law, once the child is born, the parents have legitimacy in staying.
24 - E L Frederick
MojoAla - Would you greatly mind telling us what color the sky is on the planet your on?
Yes, it's a shame that this kid is dead. However, I fail to understand how you can blame the LAPD for the death.
By your logic, the cops would have no lethal weapons to do their jobs with. You would have three dead cops instead of one dead kid. These men have just as much right to life, liberty and the persuit of happiness as the child did. The difference is, these men were being shot at by the father of this child, who was high, and drunk, and holding the baby.
I am glad that in your brilliance you can see other way that this could of been handled. Perhaps you should place you hands on the desk in front of you and push yourself back from it, get up, and go down to your local police station and get a job as a cop.
Kids die, it's sad. Even if this was a rich white kid, and not a poor hispanic illegal, it would make no difference, the cops aren't to blame. The father was the person most responcible for the death of himself and the child.
25 - Nancy
I don't know what rights having a child born here to illegal parents confers on the parents. There was recently a case in the DC area of parents being deported while the kid was allowed to stay w/legal relatives. Maybe someone else has better info? But as I said, I think that should be changed to put a stop to that particular incentive to violate the law.