Family Demands Answers in Police Shooting Death

The family of a 31-year-old Los Angeles man killed by an off-duty university police officer Sunday demanded answers about the events leading up to his death.

Media reports said Justo Quintero was driving home from his brother’s bachelor party when the fatal events unfolded. and was driving home in the 1000 block of Arroyo Verde Road last Sunday at 1:00 a.m. when the incident happened.

A confrontation allegedly took place between Quintero and an off-duty Cal State Los Angeles police officer in the 1000 block of Arroyo Verde Road, during which Quintero was shot multiple times in his upper torso.

Quintero reportedly fled the scene before colliding to a nearby parked vehicle, the CBS Los Angeles reported, citing the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Quintero was then arrested and taken to an area hospital where he later died.

Quintero was known to his friends and families as someone who left a gang life and who took up the responsibility of being a father to his fiance Natalie Matute’s three children, KCBS reported.

“It’s not fair. It’s just not fair,” Matute told the KCBS. “He was my love of my life.”

His sister-in-law, Liz Ceja, described Quintero as a “great guy” and said that “He doesn’t deserve this. “There’s no way that this should have happened,” the KTLA 5 reported.

“All we’re asking is if someone has heard anything that happened, please help us to give my sister, the family closure,” Ceja told the KTLA 5.

Although the cause of the confrontation was undetermined, Quintero’s family thinks that the reason was Quintero was playing loud music in his car, the CBS reported. If so, Quintero’s sister, Lupe Castelar, wanted to know if he was driving his car around the neighborhood or if his car was parked when the incident happened.

“That’s what I want to know,” Castelar told the CBS. “Was this at the residence? Was this as he was driving with the loud music?”

Meanwhile, investigators allegedly found Quintero’s gun at the scene, but it was unclear if he fired the weapon.

“From what I know is that he was fleeing already wounded,” Castelar told the KCBS.

Matute said Quintero carried a gun as a preventive measure against gang members who attacked him in the past and it was not pointed at the off-duty officer, KCBS reported.

The unidentified officer, who is a resident of the neighborhood, suffered minor injuries from the incident.

An investigation by the sheriff’s department is on-going.

The Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau encouraged anyone who has vital information on the incident to contact (323) 890-5500 or Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS (8477).