Updated November 21, 2020: There has been no disciplinary action for the officers involved. Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey refuses to prosecute criminal cops.
Andres Guardado was an 18-year old Salvadoran boy who was murdered by Los Angeles Sheriffs on June 18, 2020. An official autopsy released by the Los Angeles City coroner has determined that the cause of death was “5 gunshot wounds entering the back, all fatal”, and the manner of death – homicide. The event happened in South Gardena and the shooting was perpetrated by two officers from the Compton Sheriff Station.
The two officers involved in the shooting, Miguel Vega and Chris Hernandez, have been identified as prospective members of the Compton Station Deputy gang: The Executioners. The claim comes from whistleblower Deputy Austoberto “Art” Gonzalez – a USMC veteran and LA County Sheriff at the Compton Station who joined the force in 2008. Deputy Gonzalez’ testimony alleges an estimated 40% of the Compton Sheriff’s Department are either members or prospective members/close affiliates of The Executioners, stating “Members become inked as ‘Executioners’ after executing members of the public, or otherwise committing acts of violence in furtherance of the gang”.
This is a picture of Andres during his recent highschool graduation. Andres Guardado was a student at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, going to school and working two jobs trying to become a nurse. He was working as a security guard for an auto-body shop on the 400 block of Redondo Beach Blvd when the incident occured. Police say Andres had a gun on him and justify his death by claiming their lives were threatened. Both Sheriffs were not wearing body cameras on the day of the incident.
A manager at the auto shop, Andrew Heney, is on record saying the police destroyed video evidence of the event, illegally destroying video cameras and confiscating the DVR machine which saved the video footage of the alleyway. The owner also recounts “We had security out front because we had certain issues with people tagging and stuff like that, and then the police come up and they pull their guns on him and he ran because he was scared and they shot and killed him…He has a clean background and everything, there’s no reason”.
Compton Executioners are in power. Deputy Gonzalez anonymously reported a violent incident between an inked member and another deputy to the Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB), fulfilling his duties as an officer and reporting misconduct. Shortly after the complaint was made, a piece of public graffiti was written on a keypad visible to everyone at the station, reading “ART IS A RAT”. The Executioners are allegedly responsible for employing illegal arrest quotas, inking members of the group after “998 parties” (the code for officer-involved shooting), and being racially and sexually discriminatory by not allowing black or female deputies to join. The fact that Deputy Gonzalez had his anonymity blown after going through the proper procedure means there are Executions in positions of power at the Compton Station, and that the power of clique affiliation runs deep, infiltrating nearly half the department.
The Compton Executioners are not new. In 2019, a $7 million settlement was reached over the wrongful death of Donta Taylor, a black man who allegedly pointed a gun at a sheriff in Compton, 2016. No gun was ever found, and nothing even resembling a gun was ever found. The officer involved in the shooting, Deputy Samuel Aldama, admitted he was one of several Deputies inked with the tattoo shown below. This also corroborates Deputy Gonzalez’ claim, stating “Nearly all the CPT Deputies who have been involved in high-profile shootings and out-of-policy beatings at CPT in recent years have been ‘inked’ members of The Executioners”.
The whistle-blow on Deputy Gangs and executions proves what black and brown people have known for generations: Police are responsible for terrorizing our community and murdering innocent people. These Deputy “cliques” operate just like gangs outside law enforcement with violent rites of initiation, tattooing members to prove their loyalty, and becoming hostile to members outside of their gang. Deputy cliques are nothing new, either. In August of this year, Sheriff Villanueva made the announcement to take disciplinary action and suspend as many as 26 Sheriffs involved in the East Los Angeles Banditos, another “gang culture that encourages excessive force, particularly against minorities”.
Los Angeles Sheriffs have a long history of corruption. Currently, the former head of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs, Lee Baca, serves time in federal prison for multiple accounts including obstruction of justice and making false statements. His right-hand man, Sheriff Paul Tanaka, is also serving time for similar charges. Tanaka served on the Lynwood Sheriff’s Station and was controversially a part of the Lynwood Vikings, which a federal judge claimed was a “Neo-Nazi, white supremacist gang”. What is clear is that the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has a major problem with complicit silence, and Deputy Gangs have infiltrated several departments, becoming a threat to public safety and our communities. Simultaneously, the city of Los Angeles has paid millions of dollars in settling wrongful death/police brutality suits. South East L.A. is directly affected by the rampant corruption and mismanagement of these police forces and the officers in charge with enforcing the law are actively breaking it. The criminal justice system employs criminals, and has proven time and time again to be unjust in it’s treatment toward black and brown people.
Andres Gomez is a Chicano writer speaking on the Mexican/Central American experience. Born and raised in East Los Angeles and as the child of immigrants, Andres is devoted to producing content that speaks for the African and indigenous descendants on Earth.