The war against police is officially out of control — and cops may be scared to fight back.
A violent thug shot and wounded a Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant before standing over him and pumping four bullets into his body, Sheriff Jim McDonnell says — and Black Lives Matter protests could be to blame.
The tragic information came Thursday in the death of Sgt. Steven Owen, which McDonnel called a “calculated execution.”
The 53-year-old Owen was shot while responding to a report of a burglary in progress Wednesday at an apartment building in Lancaster.
Owen went behind the building, where the gunman shot him with a stolen gun then stood over his body and fired four more times, McDonnell said at a news conference.
“He then unsuccessfully searched the body for the sergeant’s weapon, with the intent to use it to murder the first responding deputy,” the sheriff said.
Trenton Trevon Lovell, 27, of Lancaster was arrested in the killing.
Authorities said he pointed a gun at a deputy who responded and was shot in the shoulder before stealing Owens’ patrol car, backing up and ramming another patrol car with it.
He then ran into a house where two teenagers were cowering before SWAT team members rescued them and forced Lovell to run out the back, McDonnell said.
Lovell was treated for his wound and remained jailed without bail. It was not clear if he has an attorney.
McDonnell was asked whether the sergeant, a 29-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department, may have tried to avoid shooting the suspect, who was black.
Some are speculating Owen hesitated on opening fire because of recent violent protests by Black Lives Matter, but McDonnell said he wasn’t sure.
“There was only the two of them there initially, so I don’t know that we’ll ever be able to answer what happened in that split-second,” McDonnell said. However, he said the killer may have been able to draw a gun surreptitiously while the sergeant had his own gun out and was requesting backup.
McDonnell rejected any suggestion that Lovell, who is black, may have shot in self-defense — a question apparently prompted by controversy over recent shootings of young black men in police confrontations.
“This is an individual that was certainly the aggressor, somebody who is truly a predator, and not somebody who was defending himself in any manner,” McDonnell said.
Lovell has been arrested a dozen times, including one on suspicion of selling marijuana when he was a juvenile. He has also served two state prison sentences, McDonnell said.
The news conference was held as Owen’s body was escorted from a morgue in Los Angeles back to Lancaster, where hundreds of people stood on an overpass draped with U.S. flags to watch as the hearse passed.
At the news conference, the sheriff said Owen was a model peace officer who was well-liked by local residents who had met him.
“They are saying that on their worst day, he helped them believe that tomorrow would be a better one,” McDonnell said.
In 2014, Owen was one of several deputies from the Lancaster station who received Sheriff’s Department medals for meritorious conduct after they captured a gunman in a bulletproof vest who had taken a driver hostage and used him as a human shield after a police chase.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
It scares me to think that officers might put themselves in more jeopardy because they are hesitant to use force. They place themselves in enough risk already.
Something to think about:
Now let me see if I have this right.
There’s no guidance or discipline in the home.
The family situation is so unstable; ‘Junior’ doesn’t even know where to send a Father’s Day card.
Junior gets dumped into the education system where he is socially promoted because the overwhelmed school district can’t deal with the undisciplined whelp.
Junior’s major formative influences are ‘gangsta’ rap videos and a corresponding peer group of gangsta wannabes.
At age 18, Junior is turned loose on society carrying a bad attitude, a broken compass and no respect for authority. Junior gets himself in big trouble with the law because he is illiterate, unskilled, unemployable and his only source of income other than Government assistance is illegal and meets dire consequences.
Then, the situation diagnosis is that the police need more training, compassion, sensitivity and understanding?
Pardon me for asking, but do you really believe this BULLSHIT?
Great post! You hit the nail on the head with every statement!
Good point — you said it all.
Agreed.
Well said
Junior belongs in an asylum for the criminally insane,FOR LIFE!
JUNIOR DESERVES THE DEATH PENALTY!
No. Execution ONLY!
The Liberals, Progressives, and Socialists do.
Actually, this is just part of their long range plan to destabilize the USA so as to bring about the USSA. It’s the Saul Alinksy, Hillary’s hero, and the Cloward-Piven plans in action.
No. Few of us do. We are those people in the background who know what his BS is because we have seen it in any number of third world shit holes we collectively served in and most us will not go along to get along. We are tired of that insane BS!
You are right about the home and uneducated kids. My daughter is a teacher. No respect for teachers and especially women. No respect for parents. Parents have no control over there kids.
The school districts don’t do their job. Funding for councilors or afraid of these kids. We need to close the borders. No more refugees until we can sort out who are criminals. God bless our country
Prayers for the Deputy family. Our Deputies are doing a good job but our Obama government isn’t backing law enforcement, Obama backs BLM.
You are basically right, Nellie. 99% of the street criminals shot by police have been ‘righteous’ shootings. The street hood got what they had coming. But there are always the well-publicized exceptions. The well-documented episode in Chicago where the black moron holding a knife was shot multiple times from 30 or so feet away. The episode in St. Paul where a stoned black guy (Castile) was shot at a traffic stop. There’s a good chance that the policeman in this case was way too quick to fire. And the low-level criminal who was tackled outside the convenience store in Baton Rouge, La may have been shot unnecessarily. And to make it worse many of these shootings were by policemen who had multiple disciplinary problems on their records as policemen. Police forces/sheriff offices need to do a better job of weeding out these cancers in their police force. I’m not making excuses for the increasingly large numbers of violent street criminals who are taking advantage of the current situation. And lastly maybe the Policemen need to work in pairs at least. If that means slower response time, then that’s tough. These crappy slum neighborhoods who make most of the police calls will have to straighten their own neighborhoods out-and quit calling cops every five minutes. And then they hate the Police when they answer the call. Police are in a no-win situation.
So true!
Exactly!!!
Yep. It all goes back to the home. No dad, and momma just can’t quit having more babies, because the more she has the more she gets in her handout from Uncle Sam. It’s a pitiful and broken model, and all it generates are angry, confused, and stupid (and barely) humans who cannot cope. Easy ISIS recruits. Get Ready!
It’s sad this happened, though such an irony .
Almost daily we hear about cops who come up to a person giving little or no resistance being killed in the streets, but when the shoe is out on the other foot, the media says it’s an execution
And the black sonofabitch is still alive why hasn’t the bastard been hung or electrocuted. Get rid of the bastard now I do not want to waist money on feeding the no good sonofabitch no bread and water even starve the bastard and let the worms have him, I feel sorry for the worms.
In recent years, this nation has been so divided and consumed in hate. The present administration has helped increase this division.
I agree completely. Race relations are as bad now as they were in the 60’s, and the Obama Admin. can be held directly responsible, with his early anti-cop rhetoric. He has done NOTHING to improve conditions between Blacks and Whites, only fuel the fires of hatred! What a disgraceful, self-serving, example of what evil looks like…
He instigated it!
Any Democrat run entity are becoming a NO GO for police thanks to the Muslim FRAUD condoning these criminals and their crime sprees.He invited these creeps to the WH
It’s more than just the fault of the anti-Constitution, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, anti-colonialist, racist, Muslim usurper. It was the Socialist Democrat Party that put Mr. (intentional) Obama in power, just as it will put the traitor Hillary in power.
It is against the current “Black Lives Matter” racist group that it is illegal to shoot at black thugs no matter what they are doing. If a police officer shoots a black thug, all the “Black Lives Matter” thugs will break in to the local businesses and steal “free shit”. Then, they burn what is left. It is acceptable for them to be thugs and mindless knuckle-dragging animals.
I SAY, WLM AND THIS BLM IS JUST A HATE GROUP HELPED BY WE KNOW WHO, DONT WE?
I SAY, WLM AND THIS BLM IS JUST A HATE GROUP HELPED BY WE KNOW WHO, DONT WE?
What makes you think all black men shot by police are “thugs”?You have more “white thugs”shot by police this year than any race! And all black and white were “unarmed”!Murder is murder whether it’s done black or white people. Cops or none cops. You need a black man to help or be a witness for you one day.check your racist attitude.
He didn’t say that all black men are thugs, he said that police are no longer supposed to shoot a thug if he is black. Shooting a white thug would be fine of course. This country is so f’ed up I wonder if sanity or logic will ever come back. ALL people should be judged on their ACTIONS and ATTITUDE regardless of race.
Jerome, please go back and CAREFULLY read what Marvin wrote. Don’t be aliterate.
and this is exactly why this crap keeps going on. The traitor idiot that is our prez has allowed unlawful actions on all sides. Until we quit seeing each other as blk and wht we will have a riff …blm is a BS hate group that if they had the sense God gave them they would realize that their brothers don’t give a rats butt about them, only the attention their violence gets them.
WLM is no more important than the blm. ALL LIVES MATTER..and for a cop to get shot when he is already down four times, this subhuman needs to be taken down town, laid on a table and euthanized immediately. NONE of our tax dollars should have to pay to have these people behave and take the lives of innocent people, no matter what shade you are. I feel bad for the family of the dead cop…he won’t see his family again and they won’t see him…but this trash piece of scum will sit and live better than he ever did at home. so its a win win for him. so euthanize and get it done. no money wasted on this scam of justice that we no longer have in this america…
Years ago, when the cop yelled, Stop” if the criminal did not stop then the cop would fire one shot into the air. Then, if the person still ran, the next shot could be aimed at them. Somehow, this system seems to have gone by the wayside, and in our (supposed) effort to be “fair” we no longer do this.
Maybe it needs to be brought back?
As a retired Deputy Sheriff, I can tell you why we should NOT go back. If you fire a shot in the air, you have no idea
WHERE that round is going or WHO it might hit. With a few exceptions, what goes up, does come down. There is a very simple way to STOP all these deaths. If “everyone”, what ever color, would comply with the orders given, there would be NO shootings. If the officer is WRONG, we have a system that can and will resolve the issue.
Greg Sandercock-
(good thing you didn’t go into construction or furniture refinishing, eh? The jokes would write themselves.)
If the officer is WRONG, we have a system that can and will resolve the issue.
Sometimes yes, sometimes no, and often, only after decades of false imprisonment. Or are you saying that you have NEVER known ANY cop to lie to get a conviction?
Constitutionalist, Greg didn’t say the system was perfect, although he may have more faith than you or I have in it as it’s currently run. So how about a law like this to address the problem. Make a law that says that any police officer, detective, lab tech, prosecutor, or judge that plants, manufactures, falsifies, withholds exculpatory evidence, or lies about evidence will face the same penalty the falsely accused faced up to and including the death penalty. Then make automatic compensation to the victim or their heirs so onerous, so draconian that the taxpayers will ask, where’s the rope.
By the way, we need to find a way as Jefferson said to bind the federal government with the chains of the Constitution. I’d also apply that to local and State government.
A conservative constitutionalist curmudgeon.
Times have changed with open borders and more gangs unvetted refugees, more criminals. I don’t care what color a person is. If you are stopped for any reason, keep your hands on steering wheel where officer can see them. My old response I would be digging through my purse for ID, insurance and ?. Our officers are being targeted and I blame our federal government. Not safe in my area to be out at night. Alarm on all the time and don’t open door to strangers. We need more retired officers helping with Explores program.
Thanks
It’ time to give Black Lives Matter what they are asking for. Complete law enforcement of the crimes and attempted crimes and suspiciousness of wanting to commit crimes, This is still the U.S. A. where we are supposed to clean up the criminals and get them off the streets. Any officer is correct to shoot an offender who is against co-operating to have law and order. If the culprit wants to risk being shot, then there it is. Stop the molly coddling and get on with it. They have chosen the outcome so, so be it. THEY SHOULD NOT BE GIVEN SPECIAL PRIVILEDGES OVER ANY OTHER LAW BREAKER. GIVE THEM EQUALITY !
Lovell has been arrested a dozen times, including one on suspicion of selling marijuana when he was a juvenile. He has also served two state prison sentences, McDonnell said.
What do you want to bet that he was released early or was out on parole when he killed the deputy? The cost of keeping them locked up is high. The cost of putting violent offenders back on our streets is even higher but we never seem to learn that. For the worst of the worst violent offenders I think we should expand the list of capital crimes, give them all due process but expedite their appeals so that the sentence can be carried out within no more than three years of the initial conviction. Bring them back to the local community where they committed the crime and euthanize them like the dangerous animals that they are. Why feed clothe and house them for the rest of their lives?
Of course they are; however they have the support, backing and protection of the O’bozo administration and therefore are untouchable.
Just like ISIS all they understand is strength – they should be hunted down like the animals they are disposed of systematically.
BLACL LIVES MATTER – SUCKS
Let’s call it what it is. Our current president has been agitating society and dividing it by race, gender, religion, etc and pitting one against the other purposefully. He is a proponent of taking America down to size by any means and, as opposed to popular Conservative opinion that he is not leading, he is leading very aptly in a different direction – that of the destruction of this “imperial” country the he hates.
All lives matter black white red or yellow! When they say black lives matter what they are trying to get you ignorant people to admit to is Black lives have Always been held in contempt I’m this land that We Build, not the white, red, or yellow man. OK! Some KKK have traded in their cowardly hoods for a blue uniform or a shirt and tie or a black robe or a woman’s business suit and have been for decades using those distugished professions to kill, rape, cheat, discriminate against other races. So when you hear BLM don’t get your britches in a bunch, just say Yes it does and mine Also!!
Very simply, every life matters and as long as we segregate by race, gender, religion, etc. in our speech we do the same in our actions. Word are very important. That segregation is exactly what someone who wants to destroy this country would promote.
If you want every life to matter it needs to be in what you say. Don’t divide and follow the destructive rhetoric of our president, Instead, suggest how we can join in achieving a unified positive goal.
Jerome – typical slobbering dunderhead “Liberal” crawl back into your hole and pull the dirt in behind you.
Jerome, the BLM movement is run by the likes of Soros, Muslims, and socialists who want revolution, not racial equality or harmony. It is a criminal revolutionary socialist endeavor.
I’ve met blacks who’re just as hateful, intolerant, and violent as those in the Klan. I hope you don’t buy into the false narrative put out by Dr./Prof. Leonard Jeffries of CUNY who said that blacks are incapable of racism and that all whites by nature are racist.
If the system will lock up some of these cops as fast as they lock up the citizens that kill a policeman and denie them paid leave when they shoot any unarmed citizen whether they be white, black, red, or yellow there won’t be a need for a BLM movement. Or bring these bad reckless cops to justice quicker or these other scared cops start telling on these murderers I blue. What would happen to me or you if we shoot somebody whom is UNARMED and standing 20 or 30ft from you and they are trying to run from you!?We going to prison.
The real problem is not that most people, upon hearing or seeing anything, have an pinon of what happened. The problem is that the opinion is promoted as fact before anything is proven and they promote whatever their bias says it is.
Innocent until proven guilty must apply across the board.
Byron-
Innocent until proven guilty must apply across the board.
Apparently, you have never heard of the confiscation laws concerning “suspected” drug trafficking, nor have you ever been accused of child molestation or domestic violence.
i agree with you, but “the law” doesn’t – not any more.
Byron used the word MUST, not DOES. We need to force government back to obeying the law as put forth in our Founding Documents.
Recce1-
Great idea. How?
We’re mice yammering about how to put a bell on the cat.
Jerome – maybe you should have some deep soul searching discussions with BLM you wimp.
When are the American people with a brain still functioning going to take control and dump dumpcraps. We are becoming victims and soon the only folks left standing will be supporters of the big B Hillary Rotten Clinton. Hopefully she will be relegated to the permanent slag heap of History. My wish is that Bill finds a movie star replacement to allow him to recover from having to look at the remnant of the monsters of the dark ages Hillary Rotten Clinton. God Bless America
and down with HRC
May Almighty God continue to send His protecting angels to shield and guard members of our national law enforces wherever they serve and protect the lives of our citizens! Let’s pray also for an end of this Obama Era of lawlessness and division…let’s pray for law, order and unity under President Trump!
What we need Reverend is for a recognition and acceptance of 1 Chronicles 7:14. U(ntil then I doubt things will improve greatly, sadly.
Soros funds them & stirs them up. They will never get real..He preaches that this craziness will give them Gov. power. Soros’ goal is to pit citizens against each other & destroy Law & order, weaken America. Set the stage for Soros world power group to sweep in during chaos & division to seize control. Globalization…However we are getting it together on importance of getting body & vehicle cameras, proper equipment to officers, etc. so they can defend themselves from lies about justified shooting, weed out bad apples, and America will pull through this United with better understanding and trust in the integrity and importance of Police & Law & Order. Its happening. America is rapidly getting fed up with BLM unjustified propaganda, violence, choes and total disrespect for right & wrong, truth, private & public property, rules of society and most of all their distain for lives of non-criminals and innocents.
Was Sgt. Owen a victim of Governor Brown’s early release convicts? I am sure that we will see more tragedy like this in the near future
Where are the “thug” videos on this one?
How can black lives matter when they are the ones shooting their families, friends and whoever they feel like shooting. Everyday in New Jersey and New York in the papers someone whether it be adults, teens or ever children are getting shot. I feel sorry for the nice people who have to live where they are afraid for their lives to come out of their houses.
This sort of thing will continue if Clinton is elected. Shameful. Who would want to be a Cop with this going on? BLM members need to be arrested and imprisoned when they commit crimes, looting including. No excuse for letting them burn down buildings and loot stores during riots.
Your comment on who would want to be a cop sounds good but it plays right into the lefts hand. They would love to see the ranks of good men defending us. That way we would get a select government selected police force. You know, like Germany had. It was called Gestapo.
Love history. If you read the history of HITLER’S take over of Germany and Europe. WW1 and WW11. Is what Obama is doing to our country. Debt! Exclusive orders! Government control. We already have government police.
The killer should be killed execution style like what he dished out no sympathy these animals do not deserve to live an eye for an eye send him to Jesus
We do have a Bill of Rights which states we don’t resort to cruel and unusual punishment. Do you disagree with the Bill of Rights?
Again, were looking at Saul Alynski’s plan to bring down America. This eight step plan is almost complete. Guns and religion are two that aren’t complete. What the left is doing is magnifying the dregs who get shot, turn it around and then blame guns. Two birds with one stone. Get rid of guns and get another period of race friction. A zebra president and we have more hate than ever. Us whites just sit back and sigh and say, “oh well.”
No matter your race, you kill a cop you should be executed on the spot.These men and women are our last line of defense between chaos and civilization.
Well, so now what are the Black Lives matter bunch going to say now? ” Good” well, if that’s what is going to be said……looks like ALL Law Enforcement should think about this………Continue to do what was done back in the days of Cowboys and stage coach robbers……They call it SHOOT FIRST and ask questions later, because lets wake up and admit just what’s going on, this country is in a war, we are at war, and for those people who [JUST do not want to believe that], you are living NOT the dream but your living in a real night mare] we have had so many police officers killed in the line of duty by ambushes, that our cities and counties and our states at time feel just like a war zone in the Mideast or like back in the days of Vietnam. Shoot First…..Never go it alone if possible, and Always know where you are!
Be safe!.
lets make is a mandatory death penalty for shooting a policeman… officer of the law….that might help some of the legal process…
Police wanted a “War on Cops” and now it looks like they may get one.