Which officer shot girl can’t be known

So many bullets were discharged during a siege last year at a South Los Angeles auto shop that investigators cannot determine which LAPD officer fired the shot that killed 19-month-old Suzie Pena, Chief William J. Bratton said Monday.

The finding, which follows a 15-month investigation that used outside weapons experts, complicates the Police Commission’s task today in deciding whether the officers should be disciplined.

Suzie Pena was shot twice as her father held her in front of him as he exchanged gunfire with Los Angeles police officers in July 2005. The fatal shot hit Suzie in the head but did not lodge there. Investigators could not determine which of the bullet fragments they found had hit her.

Her death set off a debate about Los Angeles Police Department tactics, prompting investigations by the FBI and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office and calls for better rules on how SWAT officers respond to hostage standoffs.

Bratton described the investigation as one of the most complex in the department’s history. It involved microscopic analysis of about 130 bullets and more than 100 casings involving 13 firearms, and more than 80 interviews of witnesses and 36 DNA tests.

“The issue is, can we with any definitiveness determine who fired the fatal shot,” Bratton told The Times. “The subsequent investigation has not been able to make a more definitive determination. That’s unfortunate, but that’s pretty much where we are with it.”

Figuring out which of 13 officers who fired shots actually killed Suzie is a key question both for the LAPD and the family’s attorneys, who are suing the department. By identifying the officer, they could determine where he or she was standing, figure out his or her vantage point, and assess whether proper tactics were used.

The Police Commission will decide today whether any of the officers involved in the standoff violated department policies. Without being able to link Suzie’s death to a specific officer, however, officials said, it would be difficult to build a case against any individual.

LAPD sources who are familiar with the investigation said the detectives who examined the incident broke it down into three distinct stages that the commission will examine.

It began when Jose Raul Pena’s 16-year-old stepdaughter called police to say that her father had a gun and was threatening to kill her. Officers responded, and during a brief gun battle with Pena were able to rescue the stepdaughter from the auto shop. The sources said investigators examined whether any officer failed to follow policy by initiating a crossfire in the direction of other officers.

The second segment occurred more than two hours into the standoff when an officer on top of an LAPD armored vehicle shot at Pena as the gun-wielding man held Suzie. Commissioners are expected to examine who gave the authority to fire, the sources said.

The final segment occurred when officers decided to storm the auto store. The officers found themselves in a small interior office of the shop, firing at Pena as he shot at them, Suzie still in his arms. One SWAT officer, Daniel Sanchez, was wounded; Suzie and her father were killed.

Sources said investigators were looking at why police decided to enter the building. In the days after the shooting, LAPD officials said they moved in because they thought that Pena was perhaps incapacitated.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the probe publicly, said it was possible that the commission could find some of the tactics used by the officers violated policy while upholding their actions in Suzie’s death.

In an interview Monday, Bratton declined to reveal his recommendation to the commission.

He said it may be hard for some to understand how the investigation was unable to identify Suzie’s shooter.

“Everybody likes closure, likes completion. Sometimes you are not able to get there,” Bratton said. “We will not be able to make that determination. We have no ability to make a determination as to who fired that [fatal shot].”

The Police Commission is one of several panels and agencies looking into the Pena case. The district attorney’s office plans to announce today whether it will file criminal charges related to the girl’s death. The FBI and an LAPD board of inquiry also are reviewing the standoff.

At least four officers were carrying rifles. All of the rifle bullets were fired close to Pena and his daughter.

The complexity of the case “had to do with the sheer size of the incident, the number of officers, the number of shooting officers, the number of rounds fired, the circumstance,” Bratton said.

Whatever the outcome of the commission meeting, Bratton said, Suzie’s father was solely responsible for her death as authorities have said that Pena used his daughter as a “human shield” against officers.

“He’s the one who set that whole chain of events in motion,” Bratton said. “All the actions that day were precipitated by Mr. Pena’s actions. The death of that young child is totally in his hands.”

Bratton also defended his department’s investigation. “I’m very comfortable, based on my review, that they did an outstanding job on the investigative portion of it and the Police Commission will have a lot of information to work with in terms of making their final recommendations,” he said.

Luis Carrillo, an attorney for the child’s mother, said he was suspicious about the LAPD’s inability to identify where the shot that killed the toddler came from. He alleged that officers moved the child’s body, interfering with efforts to trace the trajectories of bullets.

Carrillo has filed a lawsuit -- seeking damages and a change in LAPD policies -- against the city.

“It is important to know who fired that bullet,” he said.

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patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com

richard.winton@latimes.com