The man shot by LAPD SWAT officers in a gun battle in which his 19-month-old daughter was also killed was in the United States illegally and had an extensive criminal record, reports KFI-Radio. According to the Department of Homeland Security Jose Raul Pena had never been in the US legally and was actually deported to El Salvador in 1995 after being arrested for sales of cocaine.
Pena snuck back into the US in 1996 and has had at least four run-ins with police since then, including two convictions. Each time he could have been convicted and deported but court records show Pena was instead given probation and allowed to stay.
A videotape released Friday shows Jose Raul Pena holding 19-month-old Suzie Marie Pena while shooting at police then going back into the office of his automobile sales business, where he remained holed up during Sunday's standoff.
"As you take a closer look, you will be able to see that he is clearly using the baby as a shield," Los Angeles Police Department Assistant Chief George Gascon said at an afternoon news conference. "He is stepping out the door. He's shooting at the officers."
"We have indication that he not only said that he wasn't going to be taken alive, but that the baby will die with him," Gascon said.
In total, nine surveillance cameras from Pena's Watts-area business recorded the events as they unfolded, but police only released a minute- long clip of footage.
Police also released photographs of items left at the shooting scene. Among them was the 9mm gun Pena fired at police. The weapon was stolen -- along with 25 rifles, 20 handguns and some computers -- during a 2004 burglary that occurred in Salem, Ore., Gascon said.
In addition, photographs showed a half-empty bottle of tequila on a bookcase and scattered cocaine residue.
Pena's daughter, Suzie Pena, who was killed in the gun battle that police say Pena initiated, using his daughter as a shield against police gunfire, will be buried Saturday amidst rising tensions in the Watts section of Los Angeles.