EL
PAISANO RIO HONDO COLLEGE NEWSPAPER est. 1964
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Serving the Rio Hondo Community
Volume 54 Issue 2
Whittier Police Officer Killed By Gunman in a Shooting During a Traffic Accident
BLANCA MARTIN / ALEX RODRIGUEZ The Whittier Community came together to honor the fallen police officer, Keith Boyer. The left showing the crime scene being reported on, the right showing fellow officers leaving their condolences at the Whittier Police Memorial which is decorated in memoriam. JAKE LAURELL News Editor
jake.laurell7011@my.riohondo.edu
Whittier Police Department Officer Keith Boyer and his partner, Officer Patrick Hazel were shot Monday Feb. 20 while responding to a traffic accident; Officer Boyer died at the hospital, his partner, Officer Hazel is expected to make a full recovery. The shooting occurred on the corner of Mar Vista and Colima Drive when the officers in question responded to a traffic accident in the City of Whittier. A motorist, who claimed his car was rear-ended by the suspect, made the call. The suspect disabled two vehicles during the accident and tried getting help moving his vehicle from the people he struck, according to Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Lt. John Corina.
Lt. Corina stated that the officers tried to pull the suspect out of the car and pat him down when the suspect pulled a semi-automatic handgun from his waistband and opened fire at the officers. The officers were wearing bulletproof vests and shot back, Corina stated. Both officers were taking to local area hospitals. The suspect, who could only be identified as a 26-year-old, heavily tattooed man, was injured and detained. He is speculated to be a gang member that was recently paroled from prison, as stated by Lt. Corina. Hundreds of law enforcement came out to escort Boyer’s body via motorcade from UC Irvine Medical Center to the Orange County Coroner’s Office in Santa Ana later that same day In an interview done with the victim’s family with CBS’s Erica
Mandy, they stated that the suspect killed his cousin Roy Torres, age 47, in his cousin’s garage around 5:30 am in East Los Angeles. Roy Torres’s aunt said that “My heart goes out to those officers who got hurt. I know they were doing their job.” The suspect was under the AB109 probation program allowing for qualified offenders with no history of violent, serious or registerable sex offenses, or other exclusionary offenses to serve their sentencing under local county level, or report to local county probation officers instead of state parole officers. “They walked up on the vehicle believing the motorist was in need of medical help and then they ended up in a gunfight for their lives,” Sheriff Jim McDonnell said. “You don’t know what these
officers deal with on a daily basis,” Whittier Police Chief Jeff Piper said at the ceremony. Chief Piper described Officer Boyer as a friend for 25 years and all of the department has been grieving. Officer Boyer left behind children, loved to play the drums and played music with Chief Piper in a band. A ceremony was held to honor Boyer’s 28 year legacy of service. Police say that 2,000 came to the event, lighting candles in the night as prayers and well wishes were said towards those affected. “I know what Keith would say to me right now… he would say to me stop crying all day and write me a some songs,” Piper said emotionally promising to do just that to honor his friend.
Milo Yiannopoulos Disinvited from CPAC and Loses Book Deal XAVIER ALATORRE Reporter xavier.alatorre1457@my.riohondo.edu
Shown above was the assailant being taken to the LOS ANGELES TIMES Hospital, with his identity beAing temporarily withheld, has hurt so many, and have affected all involved in the incident.
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has rescinded the keynote speaker slot from Milo Yiannopoulos and disinvited him from the conference following heinous comments about pederasty made by the alt-right provocateur. “Due to the revelation of an offensive video in the past 24 hours condoning pedophilia, the American Conservative Union has decided to rescind the invitation,” said Matt Schlapp, chairman of the group that sponsors CPAC, in a statement. Yiannopoulos defended himself in a Facebook post, stating, “My own experiences as a victim led me to believe I could say anything I wanted to on this subject, no matter how outrageous. But I understand ...that my usual blend of British sarcasm, provocation and gallows humor might have come across as flippancy, a lack of care for other victims or, worse, ‘advocacy.’” However,
Stories continue on page 2
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