Four people have been arrested in connection with the slaying of off-duty Los Angeles Police Officer Fernando Arroyos on Monday evening during an armed robbery in an unincorporated area of South L.A..L.A. County Sheriff’s officials announced the arrests Wednesday morning, but said they are not providing further details because it could compromise the ongoing investigation. The department would not release booking details, including whether they were arrested on suspicion of murder or other crimes.The arrest announcement comes after Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau Capt. Joe Mendoza revealed Tuesday that his detectives had detained five people for questioning in connection with the killing — three men and two women. Mendoza said his detectives were examining a connection to another wounded man found in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood Monday evening.LAPD Chief Michel Moore said the officer, Fernando Arroyos, 27, had just worked a series of days in patrol and had a day off on Monday, when he joined his girlfriend “on a hunt for a house, a place to live, a place to buy and invest in the city and in the future of this region.” They had just parked their car and were crossing a street to look at a home there when three suspects drove up. “The officer yelled for his girlfriend to leave to run to go back to the car,” Moore said, and then exchanged gunfire with the suspects.
Investigators at the scene in Florence-Firestone where an off-duty LAPD officer was killed Monday night.(Al Seib / For The Times)
L.A. County sheriff’s deputies from the Century station who arrived at the scene took the wounded officer in their patrol car to St. Francis Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, officials said.Arroyos had been with the LAPD for three years, was assigned to the Olympic Division and had “a very promising career” ahead of him, Moore said Tuesday during a meeting of the Police Commission.Moore said earlier that two weapons were recovered at the scene of the shooting, which unfolded about 9:15 p.m. Monday in the 8700 block of Beach Street in Florence-Firestone. “We do have our officer’s gun, and we have an additional weapon that we believe was responsible for this assault,” Moore said.
A procession for an off-duty LAPD officer, who was shot and killed during an armed robbery in South L.A., arrives at the L.A. County Coroner’s office Tuesday morning.(KTLA)
Florence-Firestone has been among the neighborhoods hardest hit by the surge in homicides in L.A. since the pandemic began. According to county coroner data, there were 24 homicides in the neighborhood in the first 11 months of last year, compared to nine during the same period in 2020 and 12 in 2019. Last year’s total was the highest in a decade, according to the data.Florence-Firestone and adjoining Watts, which also saw more than 20 homicides in 2021, cover fewerthan six square miles combined, and yet accounted for nearly a sixth of the city’s 397 homicides in 2021, according to the homicide figures.A vigil is planned for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Olympic station where Arroyos worked.LAPD Lt. Rex Ingram, who supervised Arroyos and spoke with him often at Olympic Division, said Arroyos had two dreams in life: to be first in his family to go to college and to be an LAPD officer, and that he more than achieved that.“The first time I read one of his reports, I knew his writing skills were far superior to his peers and, frankly, some ways above the ability of his superiors,” Ingram said. “So, I asked him where he went to school, and he, being humble, says ‘LAUSD.’ And I reply, ‘Which college?’ and he says, ‘Cal Berkeley.’”Arroyos was a devout Christian who grew up in a household with his mother, grandmother and stepfather, attended 42nd Street Elementary School and Audubon Middle School before graduating from Crenshaw High and heading to Berkeley, where he earned a degree in legal studies, Ingram said.“He could have gone to law school or FBI like his peers with that education, but he wanted to serve his community and give back,” Ingram said. “He loved his community. … He was very close to his family.” Ingram said Arroyos met his girlfriend at a dry cleaning business in southwest L.A. about two years ago.“They were looking to get a home in the area,” Ingram said. “This was the humblest and happiest guy I know on the job. This couldn’t happen to a nicer person.”
Tonight, we mourn the loss of one of our officers who was shot & killed in an armed robbery attempt. The officer was off-duty. We pray for the officer’s family, and their fellow officers, during this time of pain and sorrow. This is an active investigation. More info to follow. pic.twitter.com/6xpiAXjr5W— LAPPL (@LAPPL) January 11, 2022
