Local sheriff’s deputies paid their respects Tuesday to a fellow deputy shot and killed in the line of duty four decades ago.
On March 19, 1978, Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Deputy Arthur E. Pelino was shot and killed by a mentally deranged suspect.
On Tuesday, in Pelino’s memory, deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station showed their respect by wearing a change of uniform.
“As a tribute to Deputy Pelino, deputies wore long-sleeved Class A uniforms with black ties today out in patrol,” Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the SCV Sheriff Station, said Tuesday.
Although the killing happened nearly 40 years ago, the respect runs deep at the station.
Each day, Miller said, SCV deputies put their lives on the line. Pelino will never be forgotten by his Sheriff’s Department family, she said.
On the day of the fateful shooting, Pelino, a Gorman deputy, had just taken the suspect back to his office.
While he was booking the suspect, the man began to struggle and was able to get Pelino’s service weapon, using it to shoot and kill Pelino.
Pelino had been with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for 21 years, and left behind a wife, three sons and three daughters.
His spouse, Patricia Pelino, died on April 21, 2018.
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