BREAKING: Officer Gunned Down in Brazen Ambush Trained in OC

A Downey Police Officers shot to death while parked at the police station lot was a graduate of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Academy.

Investigators today tried to identify who gunned down the Downey police officer as he sat in his personal vehicle in the police station parking lot -- and why.

Authorities believe Officer Ricardo Galvez, 29, a five-year veteran of the department, was targeted but they’re unsure of a motive.

“This morning I stand before you with a heavy heart,” Downey police Chief Carl Charles said. “It is with great sadness that I report one of Downey’s finest was shot and killed.”

Galvez was fatally shot about 11 p.m. Wednesday in the west parking lot of the police station in the 11000 block of Brookshire Avenue. He died at the scene.

“Ricky ... was a tremendous young man, who loved serving the residents of Downey,” Charles said. “His smile was infectious, and his professionalism was always on display.”

Charles told reporters that the sheriff’s department would be handling the investigation.

Late this morning, the officer’s body was transported from the crime scene to the coroner’s facility, escorted by a procession of police vehicles.

Galvez was trained by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Academy, graduating in 2010, according to department spokesman Jeff Hallock.

“At 11 o’clock last night, Officer Galvez had pulled into the parking lot here (and) parked his car,” sheriff’s Lt. John Corina said. “While he was sitting there, a couple of individuals ran up on his car, shot into his car, and struck him with gunfire.”

The suspects then got into a car and it sped off, Corina said.

“As luck would have it, a Downey police officer in his patrol vehicle heard the shooting, went in pursuit of the suspects, chased them into the city of Montebello, and that’s where they bailed out of the car,” Corina said. “And we are currently ... in the process of trying to locate those suspects.”

Corina said a motive was unclear, but “it appears like he was targeted.”

“It doesn’t look like it was random,” Corina said. Surveillance video is being reviewed by detectives, Corina said.

Corina said Galvez was still on duty, and was nearing the end of his shift when he was killed. He was sitting in the driver’s seat of his personal vehicle when he was shot, Corina said.

Initial reports said the vehicle being pursued was involved in a car-to- car shooting near Gardendale Street and Downey Avenue. Broadcast footage of the vehicle pursuit showed three people running from the vehicle on Carob Way near Washington Boulevard in Montebello.

Several people have been detained for questioning, and several others were being sought, Corina said. He said investigators believe the two individuals involved in the killing were male. No weapon has been recovered, he said.

Corina said that, as one Downey police officer launched a pursuit of the vehicle believed to be carrying the killers, another Downey officer came outside and found the fatally wounded officer.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Kelvin Moody said a sheriff’s SWAT team was at the Montebello location this morning.

California Highway Patrol officers handled traffic control around the perimeter of the Montebello search area, and sheriff’s deputies, and police officers from Montebello were involved in the search.

City News Service