Dozens of reporters gather to learn more about the events that lead to an 11-hour standoff and gun battle about a quarter mile away from the bloody crime scene. Deputy Chief Michel Moore of the LAPD Valley Bureau says Edwin Rivera called 911 around 9 p.m. to say he was holding six family members hostage, and that three were already dead. Half past midnight, SWAT offers entered the house, where Rivera was armed and hiding. He shot LAPD SWAT officer James Veenstra in the face and jaw, and killed veteran SWAT officer Randal Simmons with a bullet to the neck.
Patricia Nazario is live outside the Northridge Hospital Medical Center at 9:04 a.m.:
LAPD SWAT Officer James Veenstra, 51, was shot in the face and jaw by 20-year-old Edwin Rivera at Rivera’s Winnetka home. Photo: LAPD
Edwin Rivera, 20, also shot Randal Simmons, 51. Simmons is the first SWAT officer killed in the line of duty in the history of the elite Special Weapons and Tactics team since it began in 1967. Photo: LAPD/Twitter Feb. 7, 2008.
Simmons’ widow, Lisa Simmons wrote about her husband in the book, 41D Man of Valor: The Story of SWAT Officer Randy Simmons. Major firearm companies Rugers and Smith & Wesson are financing the film about Simmons’ life Man of Valor: The Life, Death and Legacy of LAPD SWAT officer, Randy Simmons.
Breaking-News Coverage:
First live shot from Hospital
Second live shot from Hospital
Third live shot from Hospital
Fifth live shot from Hospital
