No one has been arrested in Saturday’s attack.
The young off-duty officer was eating with friends near a Lincoln Heights taco stand after midnight Saturday when he saw someone tagging a wall.
Diaz and his group tried to hurry to their car and drive away to avoid a violent confrontation, a source said. As they got into the vehicle, the gunman opened fire, fatally wounding Diaz and injuring one of his girlfriend’s brothers.A witness flagged down an LAPD motorcycle officer, who found the two men with gunshot wounds about 1 a.m. at Avenue 26 and Humboldt Street, police said. Diaz was pronounced dead; his girlfriend’s brother was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Mayor Eric Garcetti said Diaz’s slaying is “a shocking reminder of the dangers that LAPD officers face every moment they wear the badge” and offered condolences to his family and friends.“They are experiencing a loss that no one should have to suffer, under circumstances that outrage us all,” Garcetti said in a statement.
Dozens of officers and supporters turned out for a candlelight vigil Saturday night for Diaz in front of the LAPD headquarters on 1st Street, across from City Hall, in downtown L.A. The Avenues gang has long called Lincoln Heights and other parts of Northeast L.A. its territory. It took root in the 1950s, deriving its name from the avenues that cross Figueroa Street, and gained national attention in 1995, when several members opened fire on a car that made a wrong turn into a Cypress Park alley, killing 3-year-old Stephanie Kuhen. The girl became a national symbol of random violence.
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