UPDATED, JAN. 28, 10 A.M.: A second Garden Grove police press release (which amazingly also got the date of the incident wrong) states that the three suspects involved in the shootout were “16-year-old juveniles” with criminal records. The updated press release confirms that the suspects were chased after undercover cops witnessed them robbing a middle-aged Korean woman and that the teenager whom police shot and killed was from Santa Ana and had a criminal record that included robbery, auto theft and vandalism. Because of their status as juveniles, police did not release their names. The two suspects who survived the shootout, both of whom also had criminal records, were booked into juvenile hall.
ORIGINAL POST, JAN. 27: Because there's a death involved, we're not going to make any jokes about the fact the Garden Grove Police Department's press release states this incident occurred at 9:30 p.m on Jan. 27 (meaning it's still 11 hours from taking place). That would be wrong. Instead, we're going to assume that last night at 9:30 p.m., undercover Garden Grove cops “witnessed what appeared to be a robbery of a person in an alleyway” near the intersection of Garden Grove Boulevard and Galway Street.
“A suspect vehicle, a white four-door, sedan, was seen leaving the parking lot and drove into the intersection,” the press release states.
More after the jump…
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The undercover cops followed the car, and when it stopped at a traffic light, they approached the vehicle and identified themselves as police officers. Somehow, one of the car's three occupants “grabbed” one of the cops and stabbed him with a knife. “A shooting occurred, and the suspect vehicle fled the scene. The officer was transported to a local hospital for treatment and is expected to make a full recovery.”
That's the good news. The bad news is that the unspecified shooting mentioned above apparently resulted in one of the occupants of the car being shot. Police later located the car at Magnolia Street and Garden Grove Boulevard. “Paramedics arrived and pronounced that suspect as deceased,” says the press release. “A second suspect was treated and transported to a local hospital for a minor injury, later released to police custody.”
As per usual, both the Garden Grove police and the Orange County district attorney's office are investigating the incident. They ask anyone with additional information to call the cops at (714) 741-5800. Based on this confusing press release, it sounds like they could certainly use it.
Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is Editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).