Fernando Arroyos: 3 alleged gang members and associate charged in killing off-duty LAPD officer

Editor’s Note: (07/19/24) Since this story was published in January 2022, Rios, Contreras, and Cisneros have pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Rios and Cisneros were each sentenced to 50 years in federal prison, and Contreras was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Grisham pleaded guilty to violent crime in aid of racketeering and is scheduled to be sentenced in September.

CNN
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Federal prosecutors on Thursday charged three alleged gang members and an alleged gang associate in the fatal shooting of off-duty Los Angeles Police Department Officer Fernando Arroyos during an attempted robbery.

Luis Alfredo De La Rosa Rios, 29, Ernesto Cisneros, 22, and Jesse Contreras, 34, are alleged members of the F-13 gang, according to a statement from the U.S. Justice Department. Rio’s alleged girlfriend, Haylee Marie Grisham, 18, has also been charged.

According to the complaint, Arroyos was looking for a place to stay Monday with his girlfriend when a black van pulled up. Rios and Cisneros pointed guns at Arroyos and his girlfriend and took items from them, including Arroyos’ neck chains.

There was an exchange of gunfire between Arroyos and the two suspects, after which Arroyos collapsed and the two suspects fled, the statement said. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene and took Arroyos to a hospital where he died.

All four defendants were in the vehicle and were allegedly at the scene of the robbery and shooting, according to the complaint. They are charged with felony violence in aid of racketeering, a charge that carries the death penalty and a minimum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

CNN has reached out to the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office in an attempt to contact a legal representative for the defendants and is awaiting a response.

Arroyos, 27, “was starting a very promising career,” LAPD Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday. He worked in the department for three years and was assigned to the Wilshire Division.

“He found himself, after working a series of days on patrol, having a day off, taking advantage of it with his girlfriend to look for a house, a place to live, a place to buy and invest in this city and the future of this region,” Moore said.

Arroyos is survived by his mother and stepfather.

“He was an only child, he had a promising future, a bright future that was taken away from him, in a brutal way, because of a street robbery,” the chief said.

The F-13 is a “large, multi-generational street gang that has been previously prosecuted federally, including in two major racketeering cases,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

The press release does not mention any connection between Arroyos and the suspects.