PALMDALE, CALIFORNIA — A teen in Palmdale, California died early Thursday morning in an unfortunate accident, when a bullet fired by an LA County deputy bounced off the ground and struck the boy.
According to Los Angeles County Sheriff's office, at 3:47 a.m. that day, deputies arrived at an apartment complex to investigate a report of loud music at a party. While they were there, a pit bull reportedly aggressively charged at officers and bit one of them on his left knee. Luckily, a teen at the scene was able to restrain the pit bull.
Medical units later arrived to check on the bitten deputy’s wound, that is when the dog got loose and charged at the deputies again. It was about 5-7 feet from the officers when they opened fired at the dog, which later retreated to a carport area.
However, during the shooting, some of the bullets bounced off the ground and not only hit same the deputy who was bitten earlier, but also struck a teen boy who was nearby. It was not until deputies were trying to corral the canine to prevent it from attacking anyone else that they noticed the teen on the ground, wounded.
The boy received medical aid from the deputies before paramedics took him to Antelope Valley Hospital, where he later died. He has been identified by family members as 17-year-old high school student Armando Garcia-Muro.
Responding to the incident, LA county sheriff’s Captain Christopher Bergner said it was an extremely, extremely unfortunate incident.
