Detective Curtis Hegele, 39, was a member of LAPD’s Special Investigations Section (SIS), a unit of detectives whose specialty was tracking potential criminals and catching them in the acts of committing crimes. On March 10, 1980, around 2 p.m., SIS detectives trailed a pair of would-be bank robbers, a man and a woman, into the city of Manhattan Beach and watched them park on the lower level of a two-story parking structure adjacent to the American Savings and Loan office at 201 Manhattan Beach Boulevard. They watched as the man entered the bank. The team then took up positions around the car. As they did so, the man brandished a weapon inside the establishment and robbed it of $1,500. A phone call inside the Savings and Loan by the team confirmed the robbery and SIS lay in wait for the robber to return to his getaway car.
As the robber returned, the detectives closed in on him. The suspect started running along adjacent Highland Boulevard and one of the pursuing officers noticed that he was carrying a handgun and immediately began opening fire at him with a shotgun. The man began running up a flight of stairs to the upper level of the parking structure and more rounds were fired at him. It was at this point that Detective Hagele was struck in the chest and abdomen by shotgun pellets fired by another detective. The suspect then ran onto nearby 12th Street and was fatally shot by another detective. Witnesses stated the impact of this blast tossed his body ten feet through the air. The pellet gun he used to commit the robbery was recovered at the scene. The suspect’s twenty-two-year old wife and accomplice was taken into custody in the waiting getaway car without incident.
Detective Hagele was transported to the South Bay Emergency Hospital where he died from his wounds ninety minutes later. His death stunned his fellow SIS detectives. The suspect had run between the positions of Detective Hagele and another detective with the look alike weapon in his hand. The other detective fired two shotgun rounds at the man. Pellets from the second of these rounds struck Hagele.
Detective Hagele lived in Granada Hills with his wife Dawn Marie and two children, son Brett, 15, daughter Paige, 13.
Sources: Los Angeles Times, LAPD
As the robber returned, the detectives closed in on him. The suspect started running along adjacent Highland Boulevard and one of the pursuing officers noticed that he was carrying a handgun and immediately began opening fire at him with a shotgun. The man began running up a flight of stairs to the upper level of the parking structure and more rounds were fired at him. It was at this point that Detective Hagele was struck in the chest and abdomen by shotgun pellets fired by another detective. The suspect then ran onto nearby 12th Street and was fatally shot by another detective. Witnesses stated the impact of this blast tossed his body ten feet through the air. The pellet gun he used to commit the robbery was recovered at the scene. The suspect’s twenty-two-year old wife and accomplice was taken into custody in the waiting getaway car without incident.
Detective Hagele was transported to the South Bay Emergency Hospital where he died from his wounds ninety minutes later. His death stunned his fellow SIS detectives. The suspect had run between the positions of Detective Hagele and another detective with the look alike weapon in his hand. The other detective fired two shotgun rounds at the man. Pellets from the second of these rounds struck Hagele.
Detective Hagele lived in Granada Hills with his wife Dawn Marie and two children, son Brett, 15, daughter Paige, 13.
Sources: Los Angeles Times, LAPD
Detective Curtis Hegele, 39, was a member of LAPD’s Special Investigations Section (SIS), a unit of detectives whose specialty was tracking potential criminals and catching them in the acts of committing crimes. On March 10, 1980, around 2 p.m., SIS detectives trailed a pair of would-be bank robbers, a man and a woman, into the city of Manhattan Beach and watched them park on the lower level of a two-story parking structure adjacent to the American Savings and Loan office at 201 Manhattan Beach Boulevard. They watched as the man entered the bank. The team then took up positions around the car. As they did so, the man brandished a weapon inside the establishment and robbed it of $1,500. A phone call inside the Savings and Loan by the team confirmed the robbery and SIS lay in wait for the robber to return to his getaway car.
As the robber returned, the detectives closed in on him. The suspect started running along adjacent Highland Boulevard and one of the pursuing officers noticed that he was carrying a handgun and immediately began opening fire at him with a shotgun. The man began running up a flight of stairs to the upper level of the parking structure and more rounds were fired at him. It was at this point that Detective Hagele was struck in the chest and abdomen by shotgun pellets fired by another detective. The suspect then ran onto nearby 12th Street and was fatally shot by another detective. Witnesses stated the impact of this blast tossed his body ten feet through the air. The pellet gun he used to commit the robbery was recovered at the scene. The suspect’s twenty-two-year old wife and accomplice was taken into custody in the waiting getaway car without incident.
Detective Hagele was transported to the South Bay Emergency Hospital where he died from his wounds ninety minutes later. His death stunned his fellow SIS detectives. The suspect had run between the positions of Detective Hagele and another detective with the look alike weapon in his hand. The other detective fired two shotgun rounds at the man. Pellets from the second of these rounds struck Hagele.
Detective Hagele lived in Granada Hills with his wife Dawn Marie and two children, son Brett, 15, daughter Paige, 13.
Sources: Los Angeles Times, LAPD
As the robber returned, the detectives closed in on him. The suspect started running along adjacent Highland Boulevard and one of the pursuing officers noticed that he was carrying a handgun and immediately began opening fire at him with a shotgun. The man began running up a flight of stairs to the upper level of the parking structure and more rounds were fired at him. It was at this point that Detective Hagele was struck in the chest and abdomen by shotgun pellets fired by another detective. The suspect then ran onto nearby 12th Street and was fatally shot by another detective. Witnesses stated the impact of this blast tossed his body ten feet through the air. The pellet gun he used to commit the robbery was recovered at the scene. The suspect’s twenty-two-year old wife and accomplice was taken into custody in the waiting getaway car without incident.
Detective Hagele was transported to the South Bay Emergency Hospital where he died from his wounds ninety minutes later. His death stunned his fellow SIS detectives. The suspect had run between the positions of Detective Hagele and another detective with the look alike weapon in his hand. The other detective fired two shotgun rounds at the man. Pellets from the second of these rounds struck Hagele.
Detective Hagele lived in Granada Hills with his wife Dawn Marie and two children, son Brett, 15, daughter Paige, 13.
Sources: Los Angeles Times, LAPD
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