Ricardo Lizarraga, 31

Ricardo Lizarraga, a 31-year-old Latino, was shot and killed Friday, Feb. 20, in the 1700 block of West 48th Street in Vermont Square, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.

About 12:50 p.m., Lizarraga, a Los Angeles police officer, was flagged down by a woman who wanted police to get an abusive boyfriend out of her apartment. She had already called police from a payphone, but they did not respond immediately.

Lizarraga, along with another officer, accompanied the woman to a two-story apartment where they confronted a man, later identified as Kenrick William Johnson, 32,  at the front door. The woman pleaded with police to remove him from the apartment, but not to arrest him.

The officers approached Johnson and were moving to pat him down when he fled to a back bedroom and emerged with a gun, said LAPD Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell. One officer yelled, “He’s got a gun!” before Johnson allegedly fired multiple shots, striking Lizarraga, McDonnell said.

His partner, Officer Joel Ruiz, fired back. Johnson then ran back through the house and outside, still carrying the gun.

Responding to a radio call of an officer down, hundreds of officers converged on the scene, cordoned off the area and began a manhunt. Lizarraga, who was shot in the abdomen, just below the edge of his bulletproof vest, was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where he died at 3 p.m.   

“The officer's injuries were so severe that upon arrival, he had no pulse,” said LAPD Deputy Chief Gary Brennan. “There was little likelihood he would survive. They worked extremely hard to save this officer’s life. Unfortunately, the wounds were so severe they could not.”

Lizarraga was remembered as a cheerful, popular and hard-working officer. He was born and raised in Los Angeles and attended Hamilton High School. He went to Santa Monica College and worked for the Ralphs supermarket chain before he joined the LAPD in September 2001.

Johnson was arrested on suspicion of murder after a massive manhunt. Johnson was found in an abandoned car in an alley.

Johnson hanged himself in his jail cell and he died 23 hours later, on Feb. 25.

At the time, Lizarraga’s death was the first on-duty homicide of an LAPD officer since 1998 and the first in the Newton Division since 1945.

-- Los Angeles Times staff