One of two juvenile suspects in a gang member’s shooting of an off-duty police officer who brandished a shotgun to end an out-of-control prom party at his home was sentenced, according to an email Tuesday from the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office.
The suspect, a 17-year-old boy from Newhall, is to be monitored for 90 days of electronic surveillance at home, and a program known as Home on Probation, an L.A. County Probation Department program that returns juveniles to their parents with a curfew and court-ordered stipulations.
He and another 17-year-old from Newhall were charged in connection with an April 21 shooting in the early hours on Lupita Drive in Valencia. The Signal is withholding the two juvenile suspects’ names because they are minors.
Two adults, Anthony Alexis Sandoval and Hector Sandoval, who are brothers of one of the juvenile suspects, are due back in court next month.
Prosecutors believe the two juveniles were part of a group of four who returned to the house and committed the assault after the Los Angeles Police Department officer who owned the home made everyone clear the party sometime after 3 a.m.
The alleged assailants witnessed a fight between a chaperone at the party and her daughter. The chaperone’s other child, an adult son, broke up the confrontation, which became physical.
Witnesses indicated that the suspects knew the chaperone because she worked at a nearby school they attended, and they took offense at the son’s behavior to his mom. One threatened the son with a gun, according to station deputies’ investigation into the incident in court records.
After seeing the second confrontation, the LAPD officer brought out a shotgun, racked it and forced everyone to leave, according to the investigators’ version of events.
Minutes later, the assailants are accused of returning in a stolen truck and shooting the officer as he stood on his lawn.
The officer ended up with a gunshot wound to his thigh, which shattered his femur, according to investigators.
One of the 17-year-old boys who knew the chaperone was charged in open court with one count of assault with a firearm and one count of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury.
He admitted to the second charge, according to an email Tuesday from Venusse Dunn, a representative for the DA’s Office.
In return, he was sentenced to 90 days in a Community Detention Program, an alternative to juvenile hall that “provides intense electronically supported supervision,” according to the agency’s website. His sentence also included “gang conditions,” which prohibit his association with known gang members.
He is due back in court Aug. 12 for a progress report.
The other 17-year-old is expected to be sentenced Aug. 16. He is facing three charges: two counts of assault with a firearm and a third count of assault with a force likely to cause great bodily injury.
Hector Sandoval is facing one charge of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, with two special allegations, and was released on his own recognizance.
Anthony Alexis Sandoval is facing three counts, as well as special allegations that state he was on parole at the time of the shooting. He remains in custody at Men’s Central Jail in lieu of $410,000 bail.
The next court date for the adult co-defendants was not immediately available online due to lingering issues with electronic court records.
