LAPD Fired Suspect After ’95 Threats

A former Los Angeles police officer accused of murdering a co-worker last weekend was fired from the LAPD in 1995 after she threatened to kill another officer, according to Police Department documents.

Angela Shepard, 37, who has pleaded not guilty to killing former USC basketball player Audrey Gomez, was fired in December 1995 after pleading no contest to a felony charge of making terrorist threats against Officer Michelle Loomis, say internal police reports obtained by The Times.

The documents indicate that during one argument at Loomis’ house in June 1995, Loomis fired a gunshot into a bed in an attempt to get Shepard to back away.

Shepard responded: “I’m going to kill you. You’re dead,� before being arrested at the scene.

The documents describe some of the history between Shepard and Loomis--who, according to court testimony, had a close relationship at some point--as follows:

On Feb. 19, 1995, the two got into a late-night argument over the phone. Shepard said she was coming over to discuss their disagreement. She arrived about an hour later with her service pistol in her right hand and got into a fight with Loomis on the front porch.

After the fight, a restraining order was issued against Shepard. The Police Department also began an investigation. On June 2, 1995, Shepard was told she would have to appear at an LAPD hearing about the complaint.

That day, she returned to Loomis’ house. She knocked on the door, got no response, then walked around the side and broke in through a sliding glass door.

Meanwhile, Loomis had gone into her bedroom, picked up her semiautomatic pistol and called police. Shepard confronted her in the bedroom, shouted at her and pushed her in the chest.

Shepard saw Loomis’ gun and said, “What are you going to do, shoot me?� Then Shepard saw the phone and yelled, “Who’s on the phone? You better not call anyone or I’m going to kill you.�

She then hit Loomis on the head and back, the document states. Loomis pointed the gun at Shepard and fired a warning shot into the bed. Shepard said, “I’m going to kill you; you’re dead,� before leaving the room to apparently look for another gun, according to the report.

Loomis ran outside, where a sheriff’s deputy had just arrived. The deputy arrested Shepard and booked her at the Walnut station.

Shepard, who joined the force in 1989, was charged in a Pomona courthouse with five criminal counts, including battery and burglary. She pleaded no contest to the felony terrorist charge and a misdemeanor charge of disobeying a court order. The other charges were dropped.

A judge sentenced her in September 1995 to three years’ probation and ordered her to stay away from Loomis and to take anger management classes.

The Police Department also investigated both incidents.

The documents say officials found that Loomis feared for her life and “used sound judgment and acted reasonably� when she armed herself and fired the warning shot. She did not face disciplinary action.

An LAPD disciplinary panel found Shepard guilty on 16 of 17 counts of misconduct. They included violating a restraining order, striking Loomis, slapping her across the mouth and threatening to kill her. In December 1995, the board ordered that Shepard be fired.

“These are very serious allegations that we proved to be true,� Sgt. John Pasquariello, an LAPD spokesman, said Thursday. “This is obviously a woman who was prone to violence and some serious anger issues, which are not compatible to being a police officer.�

Shepard’s attorney, Bill Seki, declined to comment on his client’s prior criminal record or her history with the Police Department.

Shepard now faces murder charges in connection with Gomez’s death. The body, which had two gunshot wounds in the chest, was found in the back seat of Gomez’s car Saturday in an affluent Whittier neighborhood. A sheriff’s bloodhound led detectives to Shepard’s home a couple miles away, and she was arrested there Sunday.

The accused and the victim worked together at the Price Mid-Term Residential Shelter in Los Angeles. As a program director, Shepard supervised the 28-year-old Gomez. The two had spent time together outside work, prosecutors said.

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Times staff writers Scott Glover and Douglas Haberman contributed to this story.