Lolita Harper
BURBANK -- Los Angeles Police Department records show Daniel L. Shaw
was involved in two officer-related shootings, one of which resulted in
the death of a suspect, while on patrol in LAPD's Rampart Division.
In an LAPD "intradepartment correspondence" to the Board of Police
Commissioners, then-Police Chief Willie Williams outlined two shootings
-- one in 1993, the other in 1994 -- Shaw was involved in. Both incidents
were found to be within LAPD policy, but Williams was "concerned with
[Shaw's] lack of fire control" in both incidents.
Shaw, 40, left the LAPD in April 1996 to join the Burbank Police
Department. He was charged on March 19 with two counts of excessive force
and one count of filing a false report after he allegedly beat a
47-year-old Burbank transient on Jan. 19 while on duty in Burbank.
The LAPD averages about 100 officer-involved shootings a year, LAPD
spokesman Officer Jason Lee said. With more than 9,000 officers on the
force, slightly more than 1% are involved in shootings each year. Lee
said it is rare to have one officer involved in shootings in consecutive
years.
In February 1994, Shaw and his partner were called to a report of
domestic violence in a Los Angeles apartment in the 1800 block of New
Hampshire Avenue. The officers found the victim, a woman wearing only a
blouse and underwear, with a gunshot wound to her thigh.
The suspect, identified as E. Ramirez, was seated on the couch in the
apartment when Shaw's partner noticed he had a gun in his waistband, the
report said. Ramirez refused repeated requests to put his hands up, and
allegedly told the officers, "Shoot me," Williams' report said.
According to the eight-page report of Sept. 26, 1994, Ramirez
allegedly sprang to his feet while grabbing his gun from his waistband.
Shaw and his partner fired at the suspect, with Shaw firing five rounds
from his 9mm pistol.
Williams determined both Shaw and his partner "believed they were
about to be seriously injured or killed" and used their weapons according
to policy. Concerned about a lack of fire control, Williams ordered
additional firearms training for both officers.
Neither officer was injured. Ramirez sustained nine gunshot wounds and
was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.
The other shooting took place March 24, 1993, at the Silver Lake
Motel, 250 N. Silver Lake Blvd. When Shaw and his partner responded to a
reported stabbing, a blue van pulled up and someone inside it opened fire
on the two officers and the crowd that had gathered, the report said.
Shaw fired seven rounds from his 9mm semiautomatic pistol at a suspect
in the van, which was 60 feet away. Nobody was injured, and following a
police chase the men in the van were arrested.
