Officer Slain : Suspects Had Ties to Gang, Police Report

Two teen-age suspects in a burglary that ended in a Los Angeles policeman’s fatal shooting were gang members familiar to police in the North Hollywood area, authorities said Thursday.

Sgt. Ray Davies, of the North Hollywood Division anti-gang unit, said Robert Steele, 16, and Alberto B. Hernandez, 19, were in a street gang whose members often congregate in area parks, including Sun Valley Park where Steele was also known as a talented member of a youth baseball team.

Steele was shot to death by police Tuesday morning about three hours after authorities said he fatally shot rookie Officer James Beyea, 24, in a struggle for control of Beyea’s service revolver.

Pleaded Not Guilty

Hernandez, captured shortly after Beyea was shot, pleaded not guilty in San Fernando Municipal Court on Thursday to one count of murder and one count of burglary.

“They were both active members” of gangs, Davies said. “How Steele got hooked up with them, I don’t know. But he was definitely a member of a gang as opposed to an associate or someone who wants to be in a gang.”

Hernandez’s attorney, James M. Coady, denied that his client was a gang member. Members of Steele’s family declined comment Thursday. But on Wednesday they had said he was not a gang member.

Davies said the teen-agers, of North Hollywood, had been known to police as gang members since early this year. He said that officers in the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums unit had seen the two associating with known gang members and that Steele had admitted gang membership when questioned once by officers.

CRASH officers had files on both teen-agers, Davies said. Earlier this year, officers alerted Steele’s family of his gang involvement, Davies said. Steele’s gang nickname was Sharky and officers had seen the name painted beside gang graffiti on walls in the San Fernando Valley.

“So he was a nice baseball player, but he was also a gang-banger,” Davies said. “He was known by us, he was well known by members in the gang, and we had seen his nickname on the walls.”

Hernandez was being held in jail without bail. Deputy Dist. Atty. Daniel Lenhart said that while Hernandez did not shoot Beyea, he was charged under a California law that allows an accomplice to be charged with a murder committed during the commission of a serious crime.

Authorities said Hernandez and Steele broke into a Lankershim Boulevard electronics store early Tuesday morning and fled when Beyea and his partner responded to an alarm.

A few minutes later, Steele was confronted by Beyea, 24, and the two scuffled near the intersection of Hinds Avenue and Wyandotte Street. Police said Beyea was fatally shot during the struggle, then Steele took the officer’s gun and ran to a nearby vacant house where he hid in the attic.

He was later cornered there by police and four officers shot at him when he repeatedly reached for the gun during a two- to three-minute period, police said. Three of the shots hit Steele in the face.

Members of the Steele family have questioned the Police Department’s account of the teen-ager’s shooting and whether such force was necessary, but police officials declined to comment Thursday. Lt. Charles Massey said the investigation of the incident will be turned over to the district attorney’s office for an independent review, which is routine in such cases.

Funeral Today

While police declined to elaborate on the teen-agers’ arrest records, Massey said Steele was on probation for his involvement in a car theft and chase within the past year. Hernandez has been arrested for petty theft and vandalism, Massey said.

Beyea’s funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. today at Praiswater Funeral Home in Van Nuys, with burial to follow at Oakwood Memorial Park. Funeral arrangements for Steele are pending, family members said.

A man who lives in an apartment in front of where Beyea was fatally shot Tuesday described a momentary confrontation with Steele after the incident.

“He looked at me and said ‘help me, help me, please,’ ” Richard Colson, 27, said Thursday. Steele had opened the unlocked door of Colson’s apartment, Colson said.

“He saw the shock on my face, and I saw the shock on his face, and for some reason he just turned around and hauled,” Colson said.

“But in that moment, all I did was look at his eyes, and I knew he was very, very scared. He was like a scared little kid who wished whatever happened hadn’t happened.”