Officer Filbert Henry Cuesta Jr.
Los Angeles Police DepartmentDate of Birth: November 8, 1971
Date Appointed: March 21, 1994
End of Watch: August 9, 1998
Police Officer II Filbert Henry Cuesta Jr., #30753, assigned to the Southwest Area, a 26-year-old Los Angeles police officer was shot in the head and mortally wounded in a hail of gunfire early Sunday as he sat in his patrol car while awaiting backup outside a loud wedding party attended by gang members in the Crenshaw area.
Filbert H. Cuesta, a four-year veteran and the father of two small children, was in the car with his partner, Richard Gabaldon, 27, when the shooting erupted behind them, shattering the rear window, police said.
Gabaldon, who returned fire, was not hurt.
Doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center worked throughout Sunday morning and into the afternoon trying to save Cuesta. But he died at 3:15 p.m.
Catarino Gonzalez, 23, a member of 18th Street Gangs in the Adams/Hauser area of Los Angeles became a suspect in the murder of Officer Cuesta and was later convicted of of first-degree murder on June 21, 2001 in the shooting of Officer Filbert Cuesta. He also was convicted of special circumstance allegations of killing a police officer, lying in wait and murder to avoid arrest. The Superior Court panel also convicted him of the attempted murder of Cuesta's partner, Officer Richard Gabaldon. Although Gonzalez was facing the death penalty, jurors stated that there was no prior history of violence with the defendant and no circumstances that warranted the death penalty, therefore his life was sparred.
In the months to follow, many people believed that the wrong 18th Street gangs member was arrested and that perhaps the ambush murder of Officer Cuesta was committed with the assistance of at least one more person. Even jurors stated that the guilty verdict was a difficult one to come back with. The key testimony against Gonzalez came from two people who said they saw Gonzalez fire the shots and several incriminating statements he made to police interrogators according to the LAPD. Although one witness was a gang member whose story changed several times, the second was an uninvolved resident who said she was looking out of her second-story apartment window when the shooting erupted.
Homicides | Homies | Gang Tapes | Crip Gangs | Home | Bibliography | Research | History | People in LA | Blood Gangs | Life in a Gang | Gallery | Memorial | Migration | Graffiti | Resume| DieCast Cars | In the News | Injunctions | Homicides | Maps | Prison Connection | California Prisons | Contact
Copyright © Streetgangs.com, All RIGHTS RESERVED. Disclaimer
All trademarks mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.