Police Try To Piece Together Attack That Left SWAT Officer And 4 Others Dead
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Investigators in California are picking through the charred San Fernando Valley house where five people, including a SWAT officer, died over the course of one gunman’s siege.
Randal Simmons was the first SWAT officer to be killed in the line of duty since the LAPD group was formed in 1967.
The SWAT team stormed the home after getting a 911 call from a man who said he had killed his family.
The name of the gunman has not been released, but a friend identifies him as 20-year-old Edwin Rivera. The friends says Rivera had been unemployed for six months and described him as “spaced out.”
The LA Times and the Daily News report Rivera killed his father and two older brothers. Police say a blaze that tore through the home may have started when a stun grenade was thrown inside. The gunman was eventually killed by a police sniper.
