Fight Ends with Guard Shot Dead

SANTA ANA —  A private security guard who was awaiting a permit to carry a gun was shot to death outside a Santa Ana apartment complex early Monday following a dispute with a man who was later arrested, police said.

Police identified the unarmed guard as Kevin Michael Madden, 28, of Montebello, who worked for the Santa Ana-based California West Patrol. Madden was shot once in the shoulder and twice in the head by a man he was fighting with about 12:20 a.m., Police Lt. Robert Helton said.

Nicolas Nieves, 19, of Santa Ana, was arrested a short time later following a brief police chase, Helton said. Nieves was later booked on suspicion of murder.

Madden was on patrol at the time of the incident. Helton said it was unclear what sparked the fight, which erupted after Madden approached Nieves and a woman as they talked in the parking lot outside the complex at 710 S. Lyon St. The conversation was peaceful at first, then turned into an argument and a fistfight, he said. During the fistfight, Helton said, Nieves allegedly pulled out a handgun and fired.

Helton said the three people knew each other, though neither Madden nor Nieves lived at the complex. Helton did not identify the woman, who was being questioned Monday, but said she is a former girlfriend of Nieves and shares an apartment at the complex with Madden’s sister.

The relationship between Nieves and the woman ended about two weeks ago, Helton said. “We still don’t know the details of what led up to the confrontation, but there is a relationship between several of the parties,” he said.

Nieves was taken into custody following a short chase that ended when he drove into a telephone pole at Chestnut and Orange avenues, Helton said. A handgun was found along the 1.5-mile chase route, he said.

Madden’s supervisor said the encounter also might have stemmed from a confrontation between Madden and a friend of Nieves outside a local bar that the company patrols. He said that friend, whom he did not identify, was arrested after assaulting Madden last weekend.

Most of the company’s patrol officers, who drive from site to site to back up posted guards, carry weapons, said company president James Michaels. Madden, who had worked for the firm since 1989, applied for a state permit to carry a gun early this year, but was waiting for the permit because of an error by the agency that issues them, Michaels said. He said Madden sent back a permit on which his name had been misspelled.

“He’s a talented guy. He knew what he was doing. He was very knowledgeable and very conscientious,” Michaels said. Madden is survived by a wife and two children.

Ben Echeverria, the patrol company’s operations manager, described Madden as his closest friend and said the two had grown up together in Montebello.

“Law enforcement was his life. He wanted to be a cop so bad,” Echeverria said, his voice breaking. “He wanted to get his feet wet (with this job) so when he became a cop, he’d be prepared.”

A security guard was at the Warwick Square apartment complex at the time of the incident, but on another part of the property, Michaels said.

On Monday morning, small groups of residents huddled in the parking lot or just outside the doors of their units, exchanging news of the night’s events.

Claudia Ramirez, 22, and Alma Vidaurreta, 24, stood watching as three men used high-pressure hoses to wash down the sidewalks, including the area just inside the parking lot entrance where Madden was shot.

Vidaurreta said she and her roommates were awakened soon after midnight by the sound of a woman screaming, then several quick gunshots. They ran out of their apartment and watched as police officers arrived and questioned two people, a man and a woman, who were sitting inside a parked car, Ramirez said.

Those interviewed at the complex said they did not plan to move because of Monday’s shooting. “Most of the time, it’s quiet here,” Ramirez said. “It’s a good place to live.”

Besides, Vidaurreta added, it’s not easy to escape such violence. “Everywhere, it’s the same,” she said.

Several residents said they knew of no other violent incidents at the neatly kept, beige and green apartment complex. But one resident, Conchita Masariego, 33, said a woman had been killed during an incident in the parking lot about eight months ago.

Bill Gaboury, vice president of J.F. Shea Co. Inc, which owns the multiunit complex, said the earlier incident occurred on the street outside and not on the property itself. “We’ve owned this for about 20 years and there’s never been anything like” Monday’s shooting, he said.

The Walnut-based company later announced that it has set up a fund to assist Madden’s family. Those wishing to donate are asked to call the company at (909) 598-9000.