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Deputy involved shooting in Palmdale [updated]

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The shooting happened on the 38500 block of 10th Street East in Palmdale. [Photo by LUIS MEZA]
PALMDALE – A 17-year-old boy was killed Thursday, apparently by a “skip round” ricocheting bullet fired during a deputy-involved shooting that occurred when a pit bull attacked deputies in Palmdale, authorities said.

The shooting was reported at 3:47 a.m. in the 38500 block of 10th Street East, according to a news release from the Sheriff’s Information Bureau.

The boy, a Palmdale resident, died at 4:28 a.m. at a hospital, the coroner’s office reported. His name was withheld pending family notification. But an aunt identified him as Armando Garcia, and said the dog belonged to a friend of his, ABC7 reported.

Armando Garcia [Online photo]
Deputies had responded to a report of loud music at “a single-story apartment complex with two apartments in the front, carports to the rear, and another set of two apartments to the rear of the carport,” said sheriff’s Capt. Christopher Bergner.

“This is a location they responded to at least four times in the past two months for loud music and/or gang-related calls,” Bergner said.

“As the deputies approached the driveway … one of the deputies as attacked by a 60- to-65-pound male adult pit bull,” Bergner said. “The deputy was bit on his left knee, and at that time a male Hispanic juvenile came from behind the apartment complex where the carports are and at this time we believe he restrained the dog and took him to the rear of the complex.”

He said deputies “retreated back to the street below the driveway” and requested additional units and medical treatment for the deputy that had been bit.

“As they were waiting for medical treatment to arrive, the pit bull came from the rear carport area location, and again charged deputies,” Bergner said. “At that point, two deputies engaged the dog in gunfire … (and) the dog quickly retreated, back to the rear of the complex into the carport area.”

The deputies went after the dog to prevent it from harming anyone else, he said.

“As they walked to the rear of the carport area, to the very rear of the first set of apartment complexes, they found the victim on the ground, and (he) had sustained a wound to his upper torso,” Bergner said.

“It appears that … within (the) first six to eight feet of where the shooting occurred with the dog, there are skip rounds in the apron of the driveway,” he said. “We believe that when the (teen) came out from behind the building, which was approximately 40 feet away from where the shooting occurred, he may have been struck by one of these skip rounds … an extremely, extremely unfortunate incident.”

The deputy who was bitten on the left knee by the dog also suffered a wound from a stray bullet to his right knee, Bergner said.

The dog was placed in the custody of animal control personnel.

“Based on the pit bull’s condition, it will be euthanized,” sheriff’s officials said in a statement.

UPDATE: View the Sheriff’s Department’s official statement on the shooting at https://local.nixle.com/alert/6019935/.

Editor’s note: Story updated with additional details.

Filed Under: Crime/ Safety

73 comments for "Deputy involved shooting in Palmdale [updated]"

  1. It seems like many commenting here didn’t even read the article.

    1. First encounter, dog rushes and bites officer in knee, teen restrains dog, goes around corner with it, officers retreat to street to treat bite. Officers do not shoot dog. If nothing more severe happened, the dog would be later picked up by animal control, and ordered euthanized by a judge, as it had attacked and bitten someone.

    2. After primary first aid, officers go to check that dog is safely restrained, before they get to where boy took dog, dog rushes around corner at them again. At this point, they shoot at dog with handguns, which are not known for accuracy when quickly attempting to shoot at a 2 foot target rushing at you while you are backing away. So of course there were missed shots.

    What everyone says should have been done? Pepper spray at a dog running at you? no time, if you could get it out and spray fast enough, dog would still be on top of you before it took effect. Use a taser? Not an approved use, no one’s trained to use a taser on an animal. If it hit the dog, a high chance that it would either be ineffective or just kill the dog outright. Use a baton? if they even carry them, not something that they are trained to do, and most likely place they’d end up hitting the dog would be in the head, and it wouldn’t stop the dog unless they hit it hard enough to chance cracking it’s skull.
    The evidence will come out. The bullet will show clearly deformation if it was a ricochet, and the angle of the entry wound will show what the victim’s position was.
    What apartments allow dogs? not many.
    What apartments allow pitbulls? Probably none. The landlords would not want the liability in a lawsuit in case someone was bitten.
    Yes, to the pitbull supporters, it’s not the breed, it’s how the dog is treated, but the very people who get pitbulls because of their reputation, are the people who make that reputation. A pitbull, or any medium to large breed dog, needs to be somewhere with an actual yard it can run around in, probably a quarter acre at minimum, with a real fence.

    • I have a pitbull and I’m far from someone who would want my dog to fight any other dog so take your biased opinion out of here

  2. Someone call them out and they responded. If someone has no sense of fear you are as good as dead but those who can control his/her fear will complete his/her mission to the best of their ability.

    It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
    Theodore Roosevelt

  3. My only question is “Can either the city of Palmdale or LA County Sheriff’s face a lawsuit for wrongful death of the child?” considering all the wrongful death lawsuits Police as a whole been facing.

    • I’m not sure how the liability is split between the county and the contracting city, but without doubt the sheriff’s department has offered up yet another multi-million dollar settlement.

  4. Even with training, a quickly moving animal that is comming towards you, in the dark is not by any means easy to hit ,even by the best of shooters .now as far as deciding to shoot at this moment prooved a terrible mistake.it was a decision made under the pressure of the safety of ones own life . Those descisions never have enough time to clearly weigh all factors….unfortunately . Im sure the involved deputys are heartbroken at this result . And what a terrible accident god bless this young man and all involved

    • “Under the pressure of the safety of one’s own life.” BS. If a deputy honestly thinks a pit bull is gonna charge out of the dark and KILL them they need to get a different job.

      What people (not just deputies, everyone) need to understand about dogs is that they recognize fear without differentiating WHAT you are afraid of. You (even the shortest adult in the crowd ) TOWER over a dog. They are afraid of you because they understand big animals kill smaller animals. What they don’t understand is that you are afraid of getting BIT. They just see that you are afraid and think “huh, even though it’s big this goofy animal thinks I can KILL it…so I guess maybe this is a better fight than I thought.”

      If a human gets in a fight with a dog they are going to get bit…but the dog is the one who is going to get killed. As long as you keep that in mind and act accordingly the dog will avoid the fight and you won’t even get bit and the dog won’t have to get killed.

      Or you can just whip out a gun and shoot up the neighborhood…and as long as you are a deputy there will be no consequences to you. Of course if it turns out like this and you are an ordinary civilian you’ll be charged with manslaughter.

    • Who says shooting has to be involed. Spray it and beat the $|-|!7 out of if. If there’s multiple dogs then God do what you have to do… and save yourself!

      • Best case scenario give it a treat and hope their buddy’s like you too… not! Unless you’re zen that’ll never happen. Don’t own a pit bull unless you feel somewhat such… and there’s a lot of pit bulls that need people like you to make them a better dog. Support online dog adoptions at aol.Don’tstareinmyeyesthough.com

  5. It seems to me that the owner of the dog and the person who had the party has some level of responsibility here.
    People routinely have no respect for their neighbors by having loud parties till the early morning hours which leads to the Sheriff’s Dept being called.
    The dog owner should have had his dog properly secured to begin with but definately after the dog bit someone. I am sure this is not the 1st time the dog has showed aggression toward someone.
    As far as the Deputies…..I can’t imagine they went to the apartment thinking to themselves, “Hey lets shoot a 17 year old kid tonight”.
    To me, it seems they were tending to the Deputies injury and the dog came charging around the corner. Trying to keep from getting bit again, they fired at the dog. I can see how this could happen so quickly that a bullet either missed the dog or went thru the dog and unfortunately hit the kid. I also think it is possible when the Deputies fired, the kid dropped to the ground and that is why the skip round was able to hit him in a vital area.

    The entire incident is just heart breaking.

    • So, just out of curiosity…if I were to shoot you and say “hey a dog came charging at me and in my hurry to shoot it I guess a stray round caught you…but it’s not like I started out planning to shoot you tonight or anything” would you respond with “hey, no hard feelings, perfectly understandable”?

      • State and federal laws prevent felons from owning firearms so you wouldn’t be able to legally own one Tim.

        Of course that wouldn’t prevent you from having a gun and probably makes you more than likely to own a pitbull in that townhome.

        • Yet Parris and his wife were issued conceal carry permits and she tried to board a plane in Burbank with her gun. He made up done ridiculous excuse. He has never been convicted of a felony.

      • I actually never said, “no hard feelings.”
        What I am saying is that this does not seem to be the execution people want to make it out to be.

        As I previously stated, the entire thing is heart breaking.

        • I haven’t really noticed anyone making it out to be an “execution.” The different points of view here seem to fall into either the “cops seem to require far too little provocation to start firing their guns and don’t suffer any consequences when things go badly” group or the “cops need to be given free rein to do their job and as long as it’s not someone from my family dead in the street a little collateral damage is an acceptable cost” group.

  6. Anyone justifying this is an absolute imbecile. This was a CHILD who lost his life because deputies were wildly shooting as a dog. Everyone always wants to bring race into this and act like Hispanic or black teens are more of a nuisance than white teens. As if your WHITE teens aren’t in Walmart parking lots pretending to be out of gas begging for money to buy meth.
    This is an unfortunate event! My heart breaks for this family. And since everyone is so concerned about loud music and disturbance I’ll be sure to call and report the next time a group of white kids conjugate by my house to race putting me and my family in grave danger. I’ll also be sure to report suspicious activity the next time they approach me at Walmart begging for drug money. When the cops unjustly shoot the man let’s see if your response is “they were asking for trouble”

  7. … you people know the score. You heard it straight from the horse’s mouth, Camilla Harris, Dianne Feinstein, and your very own governor moonbeam, no less, declaring Southern California a sanctuary city. Hallmark characteristic of a sanctuary city, different laws for different people; different lenience for each cohort. If you’re an illegal immigrant, you getting a free ride; you’re getting the free stuff. For county sheriffs’ officers here in Mexifornia, they can gun you down like a dog, for sport, at their whim, no consequence to themselves, whatsoever. When something like this happens? We look the other way. That’s the deal –

  8. This is the dip.sh_t that shot a dog, himself, and killed a teenage kid all at the same time. Regular Dirty Harry we got here. Naturally, he will be cleared and released back to duty. Maybe they can have him run the coffee machine at the station.

  9. These mess was avoidable. The cops usually show up because someone CALLED for service BECAUSE someone else is Not behaving like a civilized human. Who lets their Pit Bull run around at 3:30 in the morning? Evict those tenants who are behavioral problems where the cops must keep showing up. Where at the parents or adults at this party? After the first encounter where the cop who was bitten, WHY was the dog ALLOWED to continue run around without any restraints (tight it up). This could have been someone else who was bitten by the Pit Bull with their massive jaw with it powerful bite strength
    .
    LASD need the laser optics on their sidearm that should reduce those not on target rounds. Ricochets rounds are for the most part unavoidable. Someone noted ricochets will usually travel about 12 inches (at max) on a hard semi smooth surface however ricochets have been known to take strange turns like back to the shooter. I have seen it happen in the military so I know it can happen on civilian streets.

  10. No logic from the public, Hmm am Thursday house party, Prior calls and incidents to a high crime area, 3am dark and even with street lights hard to see, Police arrive one is bit by a 60-70 pound pit bull, Police back away and assist the bitten officer, as new units arrive they too are now rushed by a 60-70 pound Pit Bull, no your not going to tase it or spry some spry that takes minutes in a controlled environment to take effect, you shoot the animal as its a threat, it has bitten prior (which it will be put down) now sadly as the Teens parents and or anyone within reach he should have run after the dog with the possibility of not only people being bit but the possibility of someone shooting at it, sadly skip rounds hit 2 people and the young man passed away. Horrible for all involved. On that Deputies dont kill the dog the dog bites another deputy maybe a party goer or in a bad reaction the owner himself…what then it would be Why did they allow this? I also as a taxpayer am not hiring deputies to be targets for dog attacks and have them sitting in rehab for months while on our dime or the States over some idiots dog that is lose at 3am in a gang infested neighborhood. It is a sad ending for the young man, Maybe pit bulls and apartments are not a good thing, Maybe multiple police calls to your home or building are not a good thing lots of things at fault here and none are on the Sheriff’s actions.

  11. People partying in the apartment building at 3 am are asking for trouble, cops or no cops, could be their neighbor, the one who got to wake up at 6 am and go to work. Anyhow, if you regularly dancing drunk or high at 3 am, and then let your dog to attack a cop, who came to ask you to keep quiet.. well, something bad will happen to you, sooner or later. Use your brains people, please, at least sometimes.

    • This area just had a double gang shooting a few weeks ago. If you’ve ever driven that area you’ll see gangs patrol it. Not a safe feeling place to be. I feel sorry for all involved. I have to say if I were a cop on a call there…. I could see how the nervous tension could get. They are very intimidating the gangs that patrol there. I’m sorry for the boys family. Prayers for all.

    • Yeah they don’t think of the things they do. I don’t believe the cops was were out to shot the kid. I don’t believe it was on purpose. But why would en be protecting a dog that was not his really. Why even come out should of stayed his apartment. Yeah people that goes to work don’t or can not afford to party. Really people

  12. A pit in a gun battle with police? You know these cops are lying now where they do that at? First of all no one can tell me this this was accidental all cops are trained to shoot before being sworn in as an officer, I wouldn’t be surprised if the death record was not included in the case so officers can run free let’s see what happens with this one!

  13. Skip rounds off the pavement will strike below knee level. Anything hitting higher isnt a skip it is a missed shot.

    • Angle of the pavement/cement, height of shooter, distance of skip, rate of tumble, height of victim when struck, a lot of things that have to be taken into account. This is why knowing what is behind your target is so very important for firearm safety.

  14. The dog attacked an officer, then attacked an officer again right after the dog was “secured” by the owner. This was at a stupid house party at around 3:00am.
    I love dogs, but my position is too bad for the owner and too bad for the dog having that owner.
    If you can’t control your pets, you shouldn’t have them because you put them at risk along with yourself
    This is not a joke.
    Why was that dog so vicious anyway?

  15. So sick of people who think its “cool” to own a pit bull, – they have no understanding of the breed at all. If your Pit Bull runs out and attacks a cop, then you should NOT own one. But of course, you wouldn’t be cool if you didn’t own a pit bull would you?

  16. More reason for cops to start using other tactics like tazer guns etc.
    Whatever judgements people have of the neighborhood let’s not forget that a 17 year old lost his life. And as a mother I would not let my child be up that late at night. But there are always two sides to a story. Maybe he woke up because of the noise and reacted by taking the dog away and lost his life because cops don’t know how to aim their guns anymore. I respect that cops do their job and help serve the community but they did swear an oath to help and protect the community. Why ALWAYS use a gun when stuff hits the fan? Do firefighters use guns against fire?

    • Cops use a taser to subdue a non compliant suspect in order to gain compliance and handcuff the suspect. Tasers are largely ineffective on a moving animal. That animal is still going to thrash and bite.

      Dog had already bitten a deputy. Anybody whose been around vicious, charging, biting animals knows they have to be killed. Stories are rampant of the dangers of pitbull attacks…hence why many gangsters like having the breed.
      There is a reason why many municipalities require sterilization of pit bulls.

      • Let’s say yes, let’s kill the animal but would you agree with cops firing stay bullets and not aiming at their target? And you don’t have to tell me twice. I got bit by a Rottweiler. So I know how it feels. What I don’t understand is cops firing bullets who have had significant amount of training to aim at their target

      • Let’s say yes, let’s kill the animal but would you agree with cops firing stray bullets and not aiming at their target? And you don’t have to tell me twice. I got bit by a Rottweiler. So I know how it feels. What I don’t understand is cops firing stray bullets who have had significant amount of training to aim at their target

        • Significant time to aim…according to who? Was there the possibility of a crossfire? Were they retreating and firing? How fast was the doing running? What angle and distance was the deputy firing from? How many were firing?

          All these things will be investigated but to say the deputies had plenty of time to aim when you don’t know the logistics is very short sighted.

          • That dog could have been a jihadi terrorist bent on blowing up the entire neighborhood if their response hadn’t been quick enough…oh, wait it was a DOG.

            I don’t know the logistics, but what I do know is that to protect a neighborhood from a DOG the LASD opted for multiple rounds from multiple firearms.

            Proving once again that there is no situation so bad that calling the cops won’t make it worse.

            The party is too loud…so let’s have a round of gunfire and the neighborhood full of lights and sirens all night long, that’ll be better.

            There’s a dangerous dog…so let’s get a gang of cowboys firing off rounds in a panic, that’ll be better.

          • Hello T.S. You are again with your nonsense. One day you will get bitten by the pitbull, and when that happens you will scream and cry like a little girl, praying for cops to come quick and shoot the dog. That’s what will happen to you.

          • The cops had a significant amount of training to aim Shane Falco. So tell me how the hell do they miss their target?

  17. They had plenty of time to use pepper spray. They knew the dog was there. They will get promotions.

  18. … the three official dogs of the Sanctuary City of Palmdale: the Rottweiler; the Doberman Pincer; the Pit Bull —

  19. Palmdale…Hispanic gangs…pit bull running loose….late partying on a Wednesday night because nobody is going to work during the week…

    That’s pretty much a typical weeknight out there.

    • More ‘wisdom’ from Foolco. Lancaster has a higher crime rate. More murders. Lower property values. Lackluster retail. Worse credit rating. But it does have a $10 million dollar spy plane that is as useful as teets on a bull.

      Go back to your master and find out what to say next.

    • “Nobody is going to work during the week”

      And you know that for a fact, right?

      It couldn’t have been teenage kids partying at night because it’s summer time and they’re parents might work the late shift?

      Oh wait, I forgot, only people in Santa Clarita work, right?

      Your $hitty attitude and judgmentalism about an entire city and people’s life circumstances is really unbecoming of you, but I guess that’s to be expected from a Trumpbot.

      • Santa Clarita has a huge gang problem and guess who buys drugs from the bangers down in SCV….. business people. Every town has a story.

      • I was responding to the fact that deputies have been there multiple times for parties and gang activities.

        That area has been bad for a long time. What responsible and involved parent would let their kid hang out til 4am in a known gang area?

        • Spare us from your excuses after making your remarks about Hispanics. You fit right in with your master Rex whose hit mailer that called Johnathan Ervin, an African American veteran, a ‘gang candidate’.

    • Just because the young man was Hispanic do not make him a gang member I see more white people with pitbulls than anyone else these days you really need to stop leaving comments like this

    • And yes there are a lot of people in Palmdale who don’t do crap but live off the government and don’t work etc, that’s true. But if the 17 year old was there because he lived there, what could of he done? Was it his fault that gun crazy cops decided to start shooting crazy? That they didn’t know how to aim?

    • Is that you red head shane that stays on east 17st and palmdale blvd and the grey neon???

  20. A 17-year-old boy was killed Thursday, apparently by a “skip round” ricocheting bullet fired during a deputy-involved shooting that occurred when a pit bull attacked deputies in Palmdale, authorities said.

    Yeah, sure….so believable!

  21. The dog must had not being black because if it was a black dog they would have shot his ass quick instead they see a brown man and decided to shoot him

  22. Trained deputies who takes shooting test and go to the gun range frequently shot all of those rounds off and did not hit the tended Target the dog but hit an innocent human being

    • If you read the article, you would have known that the intended target was the pitbull, not the 17 year old. He was shooting at the dog & the bullet ricocheted off the ground. But of course, deputies are ALWAYS the bad ones. Media always takes time to show bad sides of them, but what about their good side?. You guys don’t go promoting that one time they potentially saved your life. Smdh. Give these deputies a break & stop promoting them as the bad guys.

      • So, Toni, does “sorry, I was shooting at a dog” sound like something that would make me a good guy if I shot you?

        Or would you ask “WTF were you doing shooting at a dog in the first place?”

        If there is a stray dog in my street I might worry a little about getting bit, but I find the possibility that a stray dog in my street might lead to random bullets flying around to be a much bigger concern.

  23. That’s our deputies. I get bit by a dog I wash it out and put a bandaid on it. One of them gets bit by a dog they “protect” the citizens by spraying bullets indiscriminately around the area.

      • Tims townhome neighborhood has plenty of pit bulls and Rottweilers.
        Mostly they’re chained to abandoned vehicles and trees so the danger is minimal to those who happen by on the way to their next crime.

        • A teenage boy was killed as Summertime people are having parties for graduations birthdays and other events is so sad to see you leave a comment like this when this young man had his whole life ahead of him I hope one day you get hit by a stray bullet and see the comment I will leave then

      • LOL…yeah…thirty dog bite fatalities per year nationwide…guess you guys should call out SWAT to protect you. Thanks for the link Don.

        What’s with the “Timmy” by the way? I mean, I don’t call you Donny or Donnell or some other random variant.

      • Yet that makes it alright to be shooting everywhere without hitting the target? If I was getting bit by a dog which I have on my lip by a Rottweiler I would want the deputies to AIM at the dog! Not shooting stray bullets! Gees! I rather have a redneck from the south protect me with my life then the cops who have sworn under oath to protect people with my life! They have better aim!

    • Really tho loud music bother people that much where somebody called these gun happy [removed] cops? People need to to seriously get ya [removed] life! This teenager didn’t deserve to die like that sorry that was no accident!

      • some people need sleep before they go to work. some people have babies that can’t sleep. NO ONE should be up partying loudly at 4am, NO ONE, unless you live in BFE with no neighbors to bother. You are the problem if you aren’t part of the solution.

        The boy didnt deserve to die, but his bad decision to lose control of the dog after it had already bitten an officer was life changing. How do you know it was no accident? Were you there to see what happened with your own 2 eyes… you know thinking for yourself?

    • For once Tim I like your Comment.
      That is bull sh** I hope something is done about this and not end up saying that the deputy was right for doing what he did.
      It does not matter what the boy was doing out late the thing is that an innocent teen got killed Because a careless deputy decided Shut off several rounds without aiming at the target I think deputy’s need more training how to do Solve problems without having to shoot their gun first. All lives matter Hispanic white black we are all ppl And every race gangbangers Drug addicts rapist thieves murderers whatever you want to call it

      ITS 2017 PEOPLE All that raises BS needs to stop.

      R.I.P to the young man

    • Imagine if it were a regular Joe shmoe that decide to protect his neighborhood by firing at a vicious looking dog aproaching him. Then he would be considered a threat to the community, arrested and prosicuted. Do these badge wearing Joe shmoes not carry pepper spray or batons anymore?

      • so you really think pepper spray and a baton will keep the vicious dog from biting again? Yeah, keep imagining!

        • You do realize that hundreds of thousands of people manage to get through the day in this valley without shooting at dogs and still not getting bit, right?

          This probably wasn’t a VICIOUS dog, it was probably a PROTECTIVE dog. Thugs in blue come around, a protective dog gets excited. Instead of saying “get your dog under control” and giving a bit of time, thugs in blue have to bull rush, because their egos demand it. That gets them bit.

          And if their egos get them in a scrape, with a dog or otherwise…hey, no problem, shoot their way out of it and never suffer any consequences. Dead dogs, dead kids…badge lickers will demand that we just shrug that off and let the thugs in blue carry on.

  24. Tragic loss of life that was unnecessary.

    Also, really need to reword the sentence “deputies engaged the dog in gunfire.” So the dog had a gun and was shooting back?