Instead of celebrating Mother’s Day Sunday, the family of a man killed by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies mourns the loss of the 34-year-old father of two in Cudahy.
The family of Rigoberto Arceo said they refused to believe authorities’ claims that he tried to grab the deputy’s gun late Saturday on Walnut Street.
"My brother’s a good young man,” said Alfredo Arceo. "He took care of his family."
A sheriff’s deputy shot and killed Arceo at 10 p.m. as his family during a Mother's Day weekend celebration.
Authorities said he refused to comply with officers
The incident began when police responded to a report of a fight, and a man with a gun near Elizabeth Street in the small city located in East Los Angeles.
The shooting happened after deputies pulled over the car the Arceo and his sister were in, officials said.
Local
Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.
The sister, Maria Arceo, said her brother complied with deputies' orders to put his hands in the air.
"The cops said he lunged at him, but I never saw him lunge," she said. "He just walked up with his hands in the air and he got shot."
Police discovered a gun in the vehicle that Maria Arceo said belonged to her.
The deputy has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of internal deputy-involved shooting investigations -- a standard procedure, officials said.
Arceo died at the hospital he worked as a biotech employee at St. Francis Medical Center.
NBC4's Robert Henry contributed to this report.
