3 Arrested After LAPD Swarms Murrieta, Temecula Neighborhoods

UPDATED 10 a.m.: Three people were ultimately arrested Friday morning after the Los Angeles Police Department served search warrants in Riverside and Los Angeles counties related to the deadly shooting of an off-duty officer, police say. Among the areas targeted were Murrieta and Temecula, where a heavy police presence was spotted.

The communities awoke to massive SWAT Team deployments as police served early morning arrest warrants. Officer Juan Diaz was shot and killed in Lincoln Heights Saturday while eating at a taco stand with his girlfriend. Shortly before the shooting, he had confronted taggers he spotted in the area. The death of the young officer rattled the community.

"These are the folks that we believe are responsible for that senseless murder of Juan Diaz," said LAPD Assistant Chief Beatrice Girmala on Friday.

The suspects are in their 20s, Girmala said. Their names were not immediately released.

Law enforcement sources told NBC4 that the raid in Murrieta took place in a neighborhood where one of the suspects had been tracked earlier this week. That was in the area of Clinton Keith Road and Toulon Drive.

"Early this morning, we served several warrants in connection with the murder of Officer Juan Diaz last week," the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement. "Thank you to our law enforcement partners, including Murrieta PD for their assistance today."

Additional details were not immediately available.

ORIGINAL STORY BELOW

MURRIETA, CA — A heavy police presence was spotted Friday morning in multiple Southwest Riverside County neighborhoods, as law enforcement officials from the Los Angeles Police Department converged in the region.

Media relations officials with the LAPD confirm to Patch that the agency is in both Temecula and Murrieta serving search warrants. They could not confirm if the cases are related, however witnesses began reporting seeing police around the same time in both areas.

Witnesses first began reporting the police activity around 6 a.m., in a neighborhood off Clinton Keith Road and Toulon Drive. Images from the scene showed an LAPD 'special weapons and tactics' team was there.

Elsewhere, witnesses spotted an LAPD SWAT team on Creative Drive in Temecula.

A helicopter was also seen in the area.

Though the LAPD told Patch they could not currently confirm what case the warrants are related to, NBC Los Angeles reports they are tied to the deadly shooting of one of their officers. Warrants are also being served at locations in Los Angeles County, the news agency said.

Officer Juan Jose Diaz, 24, was shot early Saturday outside a taco stand in the area of Avenue 26 and Artesian Street and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. He was off-duty at the time.

Diaz had been with the department for two years, according the LAPD's Media Relations Section, and was last assigned to the Professional Standards Bureau.

This is a breaking news story. Refresh for the latest.

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