LANCASTER – The parolee accused of killing a sheriff’s sergeant in Lancaster first wounded the lawman and then executed him with four additional shots once he was down, Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said Thursday.
Sgt. Steve Owen, 53, was gunned down around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday as he and a deputy responded to a 911 call from a woman reporting a burglary at an apartment building in the 3200 block of West Avenue J-7.
The man suspected of killing Owen — Trenton Trevon Lovell, 27, of Lancaster — was wounded in a shoulder by a deputy but ultimately arrested and booked on suspicion of murder. He was being held without bail at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility.
McDonnell said at a news conference Thursday at the Lancaster Station that Lovell — whose name the sheriff refused to utter — has been arrested 11 times, first as a juvenile on suspicion of selling marijuana, and was jailed or imprisoned twice.
He shot Owen behind a residence after being confronted by the sergeant, who radioed that he had the suspect at gunpoint before he was shot, McDonnell said.
“Sgt. Owen approached the suspect in response to a burglary call,” McDonnell said. “The suspect immediately shot Sgt. Owen. He then stood over and executed Sgt. Owen by firing four additional rounds into his body. He then unsuccessfully searched the body for the sergeant’s weapon with the intent to use it to murder the first responding deputy.”
That deputy fired numerous times at Lovell, who had pointed his weapon at him, striking the suspect once in the shoulder, the sheriff said.
“Not only did the suspect want to kill our deputies, he held two teenagers hostage in a neighboring house until they were rescued by the heroic efforts of our Special Enforcement Bureau and our Lancaster Station personnel. He was subsequently arrested in the surrounding neighborhood without further incident.”
While answering a reporter’s question, McDonnell took issue with legislation allowing some criminals to cycle through the justice system, repeatedly ending up back in communities to offend once again.
“I think it’s time that we had a serious conversation,” he said. “We all believe in second chances and a chance for redemption and that’s what America is all about, but there are a limited number of chances where somebody doesn’t get a free pass to continue to do this type of … violence that we see over and over again in so many different cases.”
McDonnell called on the public to carefully consider any proposed legislation regarding the incarceration of convicted criminals.