A civilian-led candlelight vigil will be held Saturday night in memory of sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Owen, who was fatally shot while responding to a burglary call in Lancaster this week.
The vigil will begin at 5 p.m. and last until 11 p.m., and Lancaster Boulevard will be closed to all vehicles between Sierra Highway and Cedar Avenue, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the city of Lancaster.
Owen’s family thanked the public for its support Saturday.
“We want to say thank you for the love and support you have shown our family as we mourn the loss of our husband, father, brother, uncle, son, and ultimately our HERO, ‘Sgt. Steve Owen,'” the family said in a statement.
“The continuous outpouring of encouragement, gratitude, and respect for him that has come from our community and across the nation has brought us the comfort and the strength needed to survive this tragedy,” the statement continued. “You all have truly touched our hearts.”
Meanwhile, the LASD announced today that a private memorial service for Owen will be held on Thursday at 10 a.m. at Lancaster Baptist Church. The service is for the department and Owen’s family and is closed to the general public, but it will be live-streamed on the department’s website at live.lasd.org. Officials warned of street closures Thursday morning in the area surrounding the service.
Owen, 53, a decorated 29-year sheriff’s department veteran who served as a sergeant in the Lancaster Station for the past five years, was killed at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 3200 block of West Avenue J-7 where he had responded to a burglary report.
He was shot when he confronted suspect Trenton Trevon Lovell, 27, a parolee now in custody and charged with capital murder, authorities said.
The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegations of murder of a peace officer in the performance of his duties and murder for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest.
Prosecutors will determine later whether to seek the death penalty against Lovell, who is being held without bail.
Lovell is also charged with one count each of attempted murder involving another sheriff’s deputy and possession of a firearm by a felon, along with two counts each of first-degree residential robbery and false imprisonment by violence — the latter charge includes a knife use allegation.
The attempted murder charge includes an allegation that he used a patrol car as a deadly and dangerous weapon against a second sheriff’s employee who arrived at the scene.
The criminal complaint also alleges that Lovell was on parole at the time of the crime and that he had been convicted of robbery as a juvenile in 2006 and again as an adult in 2009, according to Deputy District Attorney Michael Blake.
Sheriff Jim McDonnell alleged Thursday that Lovell — whose name the sheriff refused to utter — shot Owen behind a residence after being confronted by the sergeant, who radioed that he had the suspect at gunpoint before he was shot.
“Sgt. Owen approached the suspect in response to a burglary call,” McDonnell said. “The suspect immediately shot Sgt. Owen. He then stood over and executed Sgt. Owen by firing four additional rounds into his body. He then unsuccessfully searched the body for the sergeant’s weapon with the intent to use it to murder the first responding deputy.”
The first responding deputy fired numerous times at Lovell, who had pointed his weapon at him, striking the suspect once in the shoulder, the sheriff said.
Lovell allegedly jumped into Owen’s patrol vehicle while a second deputy arrived at the scene, then rammed the deputy’s vehicle with Owen’s car.
“Not only did the suspect want to kill our deputies, he held two teenagers hostage in a neighboring house until they were rescued by the heroic efforts of our Special Enforcement Bureau and our Lancaster Station personnel,” McDonnell said.
The two teens were held at knifepoint, according to prosecutors.
The gunman continued to try to escape and attempted to climb over a wall, but he was confronted by deputies and taken into custody, according to Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez, who added that a firearm was recovered at the scene.
Owen’s wife, who is a sheriff’s arson-explosives detective, made it to the hospital before her husband died, according to sheriff’s Executive Officer Neal Tyler. One of Owen’s adult sons and his stepdaughter, as well his mother, also were at his bedside, Tyler said.
Owen’s death has sparked an outpouring of condolence and grief, with many in the Antelope Valley praising him for his service, conduct and community involvement, especially with area youths. He was promoted to sergeant five years ago.
“We want to say thank you for everyone who has stood in support, prayed, written letters, shared stories and are continuing to grieve beside us in honor of our fallen Hero,” according to the statement from the Owen family. “Steve paid the ultimate sacrifice, but his passing is uniting this community.
“We have peace knowing he was a man of faith, and although his earthly body is gone his spirit is alive and thriving inside all of us. He is seated with the Lord Almighty looking down on all of us now and continuing to ensure our safety. Rest assured, he will always be patrolling the streets of our community; you may not see him but he is there. He will be missed, but never forgotten.”
Owen received a Meritorious Conduct Medal in 2014, along with five of his Lancaster Station colleagues, for their roles in a pursuit and carjacking that ended with the capture of the armed suspect and the motorist’s rescue.
Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris announced Friday that he will ask the city council to rename Lancaster Community Park as Sgt. Steve Owen Community Park.
“He deserves to always be remembered by the residents of the city of Lancaster and the Antelope Valley,” the mayor said. “Renaming our community park after a true hero is one small step in that direction. Steve was killed in the line of duty protecting a community in which he was deeply embedded. Sgt. Steve Owen was one of the best-known deputies throughout the entire Antelope Valley region.”
Owen’s alleged killer has been arrested 11 times, first as a juvenile on suspicion of selling marijuana, and was jailed or imprisoned twice, according to the sheriff.
McDonnell said he believed the death penalty would be an appropriate sentence if Lovell is convicted of murdering Owen.
The same sentence was handed down in 2007 to gang member Jose Luis Orozco, who was convicted of murdering Deputy Jerry Ortiz on June 24, 2005, in Hawaiian Gardens as he was investigating a shooting that had occurred four days earlier. Jurors in that case also found true the special circumstance allegations of murder of a peace officer, murder to avoid arrest and murder while lying in wait. Orozco’s automatic appeal is still pending.
—City News Service