Los Angeles News

WINNETKA, Calif. (AP) ― A woman who survived a shooting at a Winnetka home could help explain what led to the violence that left five people dead, including an LAPD SWAT officer whose partner was critically wounded, police Chief William Bratton said Friday.

"There is one surviving person that was in that house -- the woman that was able to flee when ... the armored vehicle broke through the back wall," Bratton told reporters.

"Questioning of her will hopefully give us some indication of what happened in that home before this whole incident began," Bratton said.

Bratton planned a 4 p.m. news conference Friday to provide an update on the investigation.

Meantime, the coroner's office officially identified three of the people who died at the home as Gerardo Rivera, 54; Edwin Rivera, 20; and Edgar Rivera, 21. The identity of a fourth body was not released and no other details were immediately available, said coroner's Assistant Chief Ed Winter.

According to news reports, Edwin Rivera is believed to have shot his father, Gerardo Rivera, and two brothers -- Edgar and Andy Rivera, who is thought to have been in his early 20s -- before being killed by a police sniper.

Friends and relatives said there had been strains in the family involving the father's relationship with a girlfriend -- believed to be the woman who escaped the home during the deadly standoff. The boys' mother died seven or eight years ago, family members told reporters.

The standoff began about 9 p.m. Wednesday after a man called 911 and said he had shot and killed three relatives. It ended around 7:30 a.m. Thursday, after officers fired tear gas into the home, which apparently caused it to catch fire.

When Edwin Rivera emerged from the burning house firing shots, a police sniper killed him.

LAPD Officer Randal Simmons, 51, was killed by the gunman. He was the first SWAT officer to be killed in the line of duty since the elite unit was created in 1967.

Simmons was wounded in the neck by the gunman as the unit stormed into the home in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue hostages, the Los Angeles Times
reported. Simmons leaves behind a wife and a teenage son and daughter.

Officer James Veenstra, 51, wounded in the jaw, underwent hours of surgery and was expected to survive. Veenstra is married to LAPD Capt. Michelle Veenstra.

Both officers were with the LAPD for more than 25 years, including more than 20 years on the SWAT team.

Bratton said two other officers suffered minor injuries, possibly from bullet fragments, as they charged into the house.

Bratton said Friday that investigators have determined that no other bodies were inside the fire-ravaged home as was initially feared.

He also said the SWAT team's initial concern about victims possibly alive and still in jeopardy in the home had proven true when the woman ran from
the residence after hiding from the gunman for several hours.

Bratton said that he has had to deal with more than 30 police deaths during his decades in law enforcement.

"I cannot recall a time that I was so moved as I was yesterday, as I heard more and more about these two officers, in particular Officer Simmons who lost his life," a tearing Bratton said.

"It just makes you feel so proud, that I get to tell their story, I get to represent them and I get to be one of them," he said. "And that's what you come out of this feeling -- just so proud about this great department and the people ... that work in it."

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