A memorial service was held in Ontario Thursday for Baldwin Park Police Officer Samuel Riveros, who was fatally shot while responding to a shooting call last month.
Riveros, 35, a nine-year department veteran, was shot and killed May 31 while responding to a home where another victim, 43-year-old Darius Wong -- a married father of two -- was also fatally shot.
Thursday's memorial service at Toyota Arena in Ontario, which was not open to the public, was attended by family members, Baldwin Park Police Chief Robert Lopez, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman and Bishop Carl Besaw. They were joined by local, state and federal law enforcement officials, along with friends and relatives of Riveros, to honor his life and service.
A private burial followed.
Lopez, Baldwin Park's police chief for the past five years, said he usually walks onto stages for things like cadet graduations.
"My walk today is a sad one," he said, adding that he was on hand to honor "a fallen hero who lost his life in a hail of gunfire."
It was the first line of duty death for the Baldwin Park police department, he said.
"The sadness and grief that followed (Riveros' death) cannot be measured in words," Lopez said.
"To his family, there is that nothing I can say or do that will relieve the sadness and pain you feel in your hearts, but know that Sam truly loved you all," the chief continued.
He said Riveros "served with honor and integrity," embodying the department's values, and had an infectious smile and was an inveterate Los Angeles Dodgers fan who would even travel to their away games.
The suspect in the shootings, 22-year-old Eduardo Roberto Medina- Berumen, was wounded in a gun battle with Riveros and other officers. He was ordered held without bail and is awaiting arraignment July 31.
At his court appearance on June 11, Medina-Berumen appeared in a wheelchair and agreed to postpone the arraignment at the request of his public defender.
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The murder charges against him include special-circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder of a peace officer that could open him up to a possible death sentence if convicted as charged.
Medina-Berumen is also charged with one count of possession of an assault rifle and two counts of attempted murder involving other Baldwin Park police officers, including Officer Anthony Pimentel, who was wounded when he was hit by shards of glass that came from a bullet that investigators believe hit a windshield.
Riveros was part of a response dispatched at 7:15 p.m. on May 31 to the 4200 block of Filhurst Avenue, a few blocks east of the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway, about a man with a rifle firing shots, the sheriff's department reported.
Pimentel and fellow officer Alfredo Leal arrived at the scene first in separate cars and were "immediately fired upon by this suspect who had a rifle," according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.
"An officer-involved shooting occurred at that time and Officer Pimentel was injured as a result of the suspect's gunfire," Luna said, adding that Riveros arrived soon after and he was "tragically struck by the suspect's gunfire and unfortunately that ended up being a fatal gunshot."
Other Baldwin Park police officers who subsequently arrived at the scene were involved in a "second volley" of gunfire in which "the suspect went down," according to the sheriff.
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