Jason Kandel

Police Fatally Shoot Murder Suspect in Montebello

The man killed in an officer-involved shooting Friday in Montebello has been identified as the suspect wanted for the shooting of his estranged wife 12 days earlier, authorities said.

Christopher Michael Diaz, 26 had been named in the Aug. 6 shooting death of Roxann Acosta, 28, a mother of three, all under the age of 14, who was again expecting.  

Family and friends of Acosta celebrated the shooting as a victory and saw it as justice for the victim.

"I could sleep at night now," her best friend Tiffany Noriega said. "I know it's justice for all of us, her mother, but especially for her kids."

Police and ATF agents had located Diaz Friday and kept him under surveillance until attempting to make a traffic stop in the parking lot of a market on Beverly Boulevard near Garfield Avenue, according to Lt. Derrick Alfred of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Alfred said Diaz was the passenger in a vehicle, and jumped out and ran into a residential neighborhood as the vehicle drove off.

Officers pursued Diaz more than two blocks, finally encountering him in the walkway between two houses in the west 2900 block of Via Corona.

"The suspect turned around, did point a gun and fired at least one round," Alfred said. "None of the officers were hit."

Officials said Diaz had two handguns on him when he died.

Authorities are still attempting to locate the suspect vehicle and talk to the woman who was driving.

"Justice was served, but it's not going to bring back my baby," Acosta's mother said. "I want my baby back."

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