Man Convicted in Drive-By Slaying of MTA Officer
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A Los Angeles man was convicted of second-degree murder Monday in the 1996 drive-by shooting of an off-duty Metropolitan Transportation Authority police sergeant in Echo Park.
Raul Santos Hernandez, 29, was found guilty of shooting Sgt. Jose Luis Garcia to death in the Aug. 14 attack. Garcia, 33, was shot early in the morning behind a commercial building in the 1600 block of West Sunset Boulevard. Hernandez was leaving a bar in a red pickup when he fired a semiautomatic handgun, killing the officer and slightly wounding another man.
Garcia, who had been on the MTA police force for seven years, was married and the father of four sons. Superior Court Judge Carlos Moreno set a July 22 sentencing date for Hernandez, who faces up to 25 years to life in prison because his victim was a peace officer.
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