“There was no sniper, no shots fired and no gunshot injury sustained to his shoulder. Completely fabricated,” the department captain said.
A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputy could be fired and charged after making up an attack, calling in on his radio that he has been shot by a sniper, police said.
Deputy Angel Reinosa, 21, was walking out of his station in Lancaster to the parking lot Wednesday afternoon when he radioed that he had taken on fire.
“I have taken shots from the north of the Lancaster helipad,” Reinosa said over the emergency line, according to ABC 7. “I think I’m hit in the right shoulder.”
The call launched a massive manhunt and authorities evacuated a nearby apartment complex where the sniper was believed to have been.
However, in a press conference Saturday, officials said Reinosa was never under attack.
“There was no sniper, no shots fired and no gunshot injury sustained to his shoulder. Completely fabricated,” Capt. Kent Wegener told reporters.
Police said Reinosa eventually told them he made it all up and that he made holes in his shirt himself.
“Must of his statement was self-serving, didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but he didn’t get into detail as to why he cut the holes or why he fabricated this story. No motivation,” Wegener said.
Reinosa was expected to be relieved of his duty and charged for filing a false report of an emergency, according to ABC 7.
The Lancaster station tweeted that is was "saddened by the outcome of the investigation" and that "one individual doesn’t represent who we are."
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