La Habra : Man Held in Shooting of Off-Duty L.A. Deputy
A La Habra man was arrested Thursday afternoon after a weeklong investigation into the shooting of an off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who was changing a flat tire on a La Habra street.
La Habra police said Leonard Lee Longoria, 33, was arrested without incident at his home in connection with the shooting of Casey Dowling, 22, on Sept. 7.
Dowling, a recent Sheriff’s Academy graduate, was on his way home from work at Los Angeles County Jail when he stopped to change a tire in the 200 block of West Olive Avenue, police said. A man approached him and demanded money, then fired one shot at Dowling, apparently after he saw Dowling was carrying a weapon in his waistband. Dowling fired several shots at the assailant, who left the scene uninjured.
Dowling underwent surgery at the UCI Medical Center in Orange to remove his spleen. He was then transferred to the Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier and has since been discharged.
La Habra police spokesman Wayne Lowry said details were not immediately available on what led investigators to Longoria’s door.
“I know our people have been working awfully hard on this since it happened,” Lowry said.
Longoria, identified only as a machinist, arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and attempted robbery and was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail at La Habra City Jail. He is scheduled to be arraigned in Municipal Court in Fullerton today.
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