Off-duty sheriff arrested in pier shooting
LA County deputy sheriff Randy Barragan was arrested after allegedly firing a gun in a dispute on the Redondo Beach pier.
An off-duty Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff was arrested last Monday for assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly fired a handgun while engaged in a dispute with his girlfriend on the Redondo Beach pier.
According to police reports, officers responded to reports of a potentially suicidal man at about 7 p.m. that night. Witnesses told police that Barragan was hanging over the edge of a railing on the pier. His girlfriend, Diana Rubio, was nearby, and the two were apparently engaged in a disagreement. Barragan then pulled a handgun – a .38 revolver, according to police – from his waistband.
The first responding officer was making his way towards the disturbance when a shot rang out. The officer hurried towards the sound of the gunshot and found a group of fishermen holding Barragan down. According to reports, Rubio had grabbed the gun from Barragan and tossed it some distance away. Barragan ran towards the gun when several fishermen subdued him.
Redondo Beach Police Department Sgt. Shawn Freeman praised the fishermen for their actions.
“You know, you are down there with your family and someone is on the side of the rail and pulls out a gun and you don’t know what is going to happen,” Freeman said. “The officer arrives on the scene and there are others who are just trying to get away, women and men and children are in a state of panic…It was very fortunate we had people there help us out.”
“I’m glad they did because who knows what he was thinking when he was trying to recover the gun – whether he wanted to put it back in his waistband or fire more rounds,” Freeman added. “It was a crowded situation…it could definitely have ended tragically.”
Freeman also took note of the first officer on the scene, who ran towards the gunshot and entered the melee before other officers arrived.
“You hear gunfire, and our job as police officers is that same thing as firemen — everyone is running away from the fire and they run to it,” Freeman said. “Same with a police officer – everyone is running away from the gunfire and we’ve got to go and arrest that person.”
According to police reports, preliminary investigations did not indicate in what direction the gun was fired. The case is under consideration by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Barragan, 25, a resident of Corona, was released after posting $50,000 bail. Rubio, 23, also of Corona, was arrested for public intoxication.
A spokesperson for the LA Sheriff’s Department said the department had no knowledge of the incident and at any rate could not comment on any personnel-related issues. Sheriff Lee Baca has in recent years sought to institute a ban on off-duty officers carrying guns while drinking alcohol but has faced opposition from police unions, who claim unarmed off-duty deputies could be targeted by criminals.
According to the Los Angeles Times, more than a dozen deputies were accused of firing weapons in alcohol related incidents between 2004 and 2008, including at least one incident that ended in an accidental death. In 2008 alone, 61 deputies were arrested in alcohol-related incidents, the Times reported, many who were armed at the time.
“Alcohol and guns don’t mix,” Baca told the Times in 2008. ER