Intersection Dedicated in Honor of Fallen Policeman Who Was A Venice High Graduate

The intersection of Fairfax Avenue and Whitworth Drive in the Carthay district was rededicated on Monday as Officer Mario Navidad Square in memory of a Los Angeles policeman slain by a gang member while on the job 17 years ago.

Navidad and Officer Ralph Mendoza were alerted on Dec. 22, 1996, that a shoplifter, Aleim Ulloa Ortiz, had just exited a 7-Eleven store at the northwest corner of Fairfax and Whitworth with two packs of beer, said Councilman Paul Koretz, who introduced the motion to name the intersection in Navidad's memory.

Ortiz, a 17-year-old gang member, fired at the approaching patrol car in an alley. Navidad fired several times at Ortiz, striking him in the chest and abdomen.

Wounded but still armed, Ortiz fired a bullet that struck Navidad just under his right armpit, an area exposed due to his firing position. The bullet passed through the unprotected side of the 27-year-old officr's body armor, Koretz said.

Ortiz was also shot and killed in the gunfight.

Navidad's wife, Sandra, son Brandon and daughter Melissa attended the dedication ceremony, along with Koretz, Councilman Herb Wesson, LAPD Deputy Chief Terry Hara and almost 100 officers, some of whom attended the police academy with Navidad.

Navidad was born in Santa Monica and raised in Sinaloa, Mexico, before returning to the United States and graduating from Venice High School in 1987.

He worked for 10 years as box boy and grocery clerk, beginning in high school, and received a degree in administration of justice from Santa Monica College, Koretz said.

Navidad graduated from the Los Angeles Police Academy in 1995, completed his probationary period in the Rampart Division and was assigned to patrol the Wilshire Division. He was a member of the department slightly more than 21 months before he was killed.

“Mario was kind of a quiet individual,” LAPD Detective Greg Stearns, president of Navidad's academy class, said shortly after his death. “He was a very warm-hearted person, very gentle in nature, a kind of person who quietly encouraged and supported other people in the class without making a big display of it.”