Today in the ongoing case regarding the June 2020 killing of 18 year old Koreatown youth Andres Guardado, the son of a Salvadoran union restaurant worker, it was revealed that his killer has fled the country. Additionally, two Homicide detectives called to testify before an almost unprecedented Coroner’s inquest — a procedure Los Angeles hasn’t seen in 30 years — pled the fifth, refused to answer even simple questions. One even refused to say he was even involved in the Sheriff’s ongoing investigation. The judge left the inquest open in the hopes that promises of the the return of deputy Miguel Vega will be kept, mid-December. Time will tell.
Evidence points to his guilt, or at the very least his self-defense tale being utterly blown out of the water by forensics. Deputy Chris Hernandez, the partner of the killer who claims to only have witnessed part of the fatal encounter was a no-show, turning in a written statement that basically amounts to pleading the fifth without showing up to do so. The judge was not pleased by this.
The inquest is part of an ongoing territorial fight between the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department, in theory in charge of what was previously the only investigation into a suspicious death of a teenager in an unincorporated district of Gardenia, California last June, and the LA medical Examiner’s office, who were told not to release the results of the autopsy but defied a “security hold” when it became obvious that case was likely murder.
There will be news stories to go along with this development and I will update this diary. But this is a stunning development and breaking news.
For the history of the case, see my previous diaries.
For the latest semi-authoritative tweets, tune in here to the LA Times investigative reporter’s feed.
Tuesday, Dec 1, 2020 · 7:45:07 AM +00:00 · willisnewton
UPDATE:
The experienced and talented investigative reporter of the LA Times has filed her story here. Fascinating to note she leaves out the bit about the killer having left the USA and again makes no reference to the 6-8 smashed cameras that deputies seem to have destroyed in a panic after the killing.
Her lede paragraph:
Four Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials are refusing to testify in the coroner’s inquest into the deputy shooting death of Andres Guardado, invoking their 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination even though none of them have been accused of a crime.
Prepostrously, the LASD spokesperson claims all four reached their decision to invoke 5th amendment rights independently on advice of separate counsel, with no coordination between any of them, nor any departmental orders. One wonders why two homicide detectives investigating a killing in the sheriff’s department suddenly decided they need lawyers in the first place.
Tuesday, Dec 1, 2020 · 10:47:21 PM +00:00 · willisnewton
www.sgvtribune.com/…
UPDATE: ONE news reporter seems to get the full implications of what happened today. Major kudos to Nathanial Percy of the San Gabriel Valley News, who mentions the downward trajectory of the fatal shot, as described by the medical examiner who preformed the autopsy and noted that it’s possible the teen was kneeling, ro words to that effect. If ever there was a trial this diagram would be Exhibit A.
And the accompanying artist rendition would look like this second illustration. Note the same exact angle, which would be compelling to a jury.
Wednesday, Dec 2, 2020 · 2:42:53 AM +00:00 · willisnewton
UPDATE: Small but fascinating detail picked up by LAist. Question by Coroner’s counsel suggests that the Homicide detective in charge of the investigation was on scene after the shooting telling coroner’s office personnel that Andres “reached for his waistband.” If he was repeating what killer Vega told him, he’s contradicting Vega’s eventual, weeks-later (post family autopsy) measured self-defense narrative that claims the gun was on the ground, teen was on his stomach not on teen’s body/clothing.
My speculation: Vega maybe changed the story so that the throw-down gun could be placed where it presumably couldn’t have been seen by his partner — his partner was not willing to back up his self defense tale 100%. Important to note that Hernandez claims he didn’t/ couldn't see the reach for the gun on the ground. Hernandez only partially corroborates what his partner claims.
In a potentially significant development, a coroner’s investigator said Detective Davis told her at the scene of the shooting that Guardado “reached for his waistband, which then led the deputies to shoot at the decedent.”