The names of six Los Angeles County law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty will be added Wednesday to the memorial wall at the Sheriff’s Training Academy and Regional Services Center in Whittier.
The officers being honored at the 51st annual Peace Officers’ Memorial Ceremony date back to Anaheim Town Marshal Rudolph Bohn, who was beaten by two suspects he was attempting to arrest for suspicion of disorderly conduct on April 26, 1885.
Bohn died as a result of complications from his injuries on Oct. 2, 1886, according to retired Anaheim Police Sgt. Rick Martinez, the department’s historian.
Bohn was Anaheim’s night watchman beginning in 1875 and was elected town marshal in 1884 and 1885, Martinez said. His death in the line of duty was only recently discovered by Martinez.
What is now Orange County was part of Los Angeles County until it seceded in 1889.
The most recent officer’s death to be memorialized is Los Angeles Police Department Officer Juan Jose Diaz, who was shot to death around 1 a.m. on July 27 when he was off duty.
The 24-year-old Diaz had gone to a taco stand in Lincoln Heights with his girlfriend and her two brothers when he and his group spotted two reputed gang members walking on the other side of the street, according to Capt. William Hayes of the LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division.
They saw Cristian Facundo bend down and begin painting graffiti on a sidewalk. Diaz and another member of his group questioned Facundo, who became aggressive toward them and lifted his shirt to reveal that he was carrying a handgun, Hayes said.
Facundo walked away briefly and Diaz and his group decided to leave the area and got into a vehicle.
As the group was leaving the scene, Facundo and Francisco Talamantes III ran along the right side of the vehicle, and Facundo fired several rounds through the rear window, striking Diaz and another man inside in a shooting that was recorded on surveillance video, Hayes said.
Facundo and Talamantes were arrested Aug. 2 by detectives from the LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division. They have been charged with murder, including the special circumstance allegation of murder by an active member of a street gang.
The other officers whose names will be added to the wall are:
— L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Constable Francis Marion Culp, who suffered a fatal heart attack after struggling with a drunk subject he was arresting in Santa Monica on June 10, 1906.
— L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy William Bouett, who broke his neck when he fell from his horse near Azusa on Feb. 19, 1913.
Bouett was overseeing the county chain gang when he observed a prisoner attempting to escape. As Bouett attempted to mount his horse he became caught in the stirrup as the horse began to run. He fell to the ground and broke his neck.
— L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Ames Randolph Jones, who was shot Jan. 21, 1929, inside the Hall of Justice.
Jones and another deputy were escorting two state convicts back to jail on the upper floors of the building following a court appearance. As the elevator passed the ninth floor one prisoner produced a handgun and a shootout ensued inside of the elevator. The elevator operator was able to grab the prisoner’s arm as he shot but one shot struck Jones in the throat. Jones and the other deputy shot and killed the convict. The second prisoner was also wounded.
Jones had to medically retire on Dec. 5, 1937. He died from complications of the gunshot wound on March 31, 1948.
— L.A. County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner Deputy Coroner II Michael Anton Shepherd, who suffered a fatal heart attack after recovering the body of a suicide victim from a steep hillside in Monterey Park on April 2, 1996. He was 53.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva, LAPD Chief Michel Moore and Brian Elias, chief of coroner investigations, are set to speak at the 6 p.m. ceremony, which will be closed to spectators because of physical distancing practices due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ceremony will be streamed on the sheriff’s department website, lasd.org, its Facebook page, www.facebook.com/LosAngelesCountySheriffsDepartment, and YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/channel/UClrCXRurpUlzY7gt7AUJPSw.
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