A predawn traffic stop that ended in the shooting death of a Marine Corps sergeant unfolded while the man's two young daughters were in the back seat of his GMC Yukon, officials confirmed Thursday.
Sgt. Manny Levi Loggins Jr. was shot early Tuesday by an Orange County Sheriff's deputy who said he feared for his life after Loggins drove erratically into the parking lot of San Clemente High School and ignored the deputy's commands, according to sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.
The deputy opened fire while Loggins' two girls, ages 9 and 14, were in the back seat of the Yukon, Amormino said Thursday, confirming a Patch story published Wednesday night. Neither girl was injured.
UPDATE:
Amormino said the incident began around 4:40 a.m. Tuesday, as the deputy sat in his patrol car at San Clemente High, writing reports.
The deputy saw Loggins' white Yukon speed down Pico, swing into the parking lot through the west entrance and smash into a barrier leading to the athletic fields, Amormino said.
The deputy pulled up behind Loggins, who got out of the car and walked toward the athletic field, ignoring orders by the deputy, Amormino said. Then, Loggins stopped and returned to the Yukon where "something happened that made the deputy fear for his life."
Precisley what that was is "under investigation," Amormino said.
A 'God-Loving Family Man'
On Wednesday, as law enforcement officials remained virtually silent about the case, Loggins' friends and colleagues described the Illinois transplant as a deeply religious family man and raised questions about the shooting.
“We’re upset,” said Aaron Banks, a former corporal who served under Loggins. “It’s hard to tell—we don’t know the facts. Now that there’s police involvement, they don’t give us the right to know, but they get the right to get their story out. The media just doesn’t have all the facts. And why was he shot? If you read the articles, you have nothing to go on.”
Other sources who didn't wish to be named contacted Patch throughout the day Wednesday to confirm Loggins’ identity and report that his daughters were with him when the deputy opened fire. One source described him as a "God-loving, hard-working family man."
A search by Patch of criminal records in Orange and San Diego counties, as well as in two other counties where Loggins has lived, turned up nothing but traffic infractions.
On Thursday, officials confirmed Loggins' name and that his daughters were at the scene of the shooting.
Loggins, who died two weeks shy of his 32nd birthday, had been living in an on-base neighborhood just inside Camp Pendleton’s San Onofre gate, according to California voter records.
Loggins completed his Marine Corps training in San Diego in 1999, according to his hometown newspaper, the Joliet (Ill.) Herald News. The paper identified his mother and father as Mary J. and Manuel L. Loggins of Joliet.
According to a back issue of Hawaii Marine, a military newspaper, Loggins served on the island in 2005 as a personal property noncommissioned officer, handling shipments of Marines’ household effects as they transferred between assignments.
It was in Hawaii where Banks—then a private first class—said he met Loggins.
“I served under him in Marine Corps Base Hawaii in 2005 for about a year,” Banks said in a phone interview with Patch on Wednesday night. “He was my sergeant and he basically taught me how to be a Marine. He basically was a father figure to show me the ropes.”
Capt. Barry Edwards, a spokesman, said Loggins had not been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan during his career.
"His personal decorations include a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, two Navy Unit Commendations, three Marine Corps Good Conduct Medals, the National Defense Service Medal, a Korean Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal," according to a release from Camp Pendleton.
Banks, 28, who now lives in El Monte, said he has been in contact with a close friend of the Loggins family and fellow former Marines who knew the sergeant.
Sketchy Details
Until Thursday morning, officials offered little information on the shooting.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office—the agency that investigates all officer-involved shootings in Orange County—declined to comment, saying its policy is to remain silent until the investigation is complete, typically weeks or months after an incident.
And the county coroner's office, which is part of the Sheriff's Department, has thus far refused to disclose even the time of Loggins' death.
Orange County Fire Authority Captain Marc Stone said Wednesday that Loggins was in "full [cardiac] arrest" when paramedics took him to Mission Hospital Tuesday, meaning the medics were performing CPR and other measures as they rode to keep him alive.
UPDATE: On Friday, the Sheriff's Department released more details on the shooting. to read the story.
But then they saw the tape, and talked to the other Deputies, and they knew that just wasn't the case. They had already cleared the car of any weapons when they saw the kids in there screaming and saying he was acting oddly. I'm sure the videotape shows Sgt Loggins clearly showing no threat towards the Deputies, so then they had to change the story. But think about what everyone assumed at first (because that would have been most sensible/acceptable).
I don't know why the official story changed. I'm just speculating as to what information was available right away, and then what happened after the realizations set in from watching the dashcam video and interviewing the other Deputies present.
What am I missing??? The policy you wrote says, "as reasonably perceived by the deputy at the time". Soooo he will say what he said about the children.. Case over.
If it was an easy case to close based on whatever the Deputy says he was feeling at the time, it would have been closed by now.
Same thing applies here. The way the Police Union has publicly pinned this on the victim, and the Deputy had made no statement of sympathy/apology, etc, probably exactly because that's what their lawyers told them to do, is inexcusable to me. It shows that they have no intention of reforming themselves, that they're able to justify in their minds the killing of an unarmed, unthreatening man in front of his kids, and that is absolutely unacceptable to me.
http://egov.ocgov.com/ocgov/Government/Board%20of%20Supervisors/Voice%20Your%20Opinion%20Online
Those who try to point this out are labeled badly as well.
You are absolutely correct about the fact that there are a few bad police....the police will tell you that but you use the 'many' word! . There are bad seeds everywhere and in every profession. There are serial killers working in convalescent hospitals. There are pedophiles in the Boy Scouts. That said.....What makes you imagine that this deputy was one of the bad ones determined to cause harm? There is a very big picture here and so much to consider...it is not so simple as a possible rogue deputy.
Of course one can and should question authority. Also, no one was labeling you. Based on the bulk of your comments, and especially this last one, I would say that it is spoken by someone who appears to be a true example for labeling. You are welcome to your opinion and your labeling and your avoidance of answering direct questions.....keep up the good work, it's ever so helpful.
'Monday morning quarterbacks' is hardly appropriate in this situation. This isn't about sports, it's been four weeks since the killing, and there's been no official updates for weeks. The current frustration is over the time it's taking to bring justice to the situation, and the longer it drags out the more it smells of cover-up/corruption. As far as why police officers go into law enforcement, I'm sure here are some truly rotten apples that try to become cops that hopefully never make it, but for the current situation, it's less about the individuals and their motivations than the institution at large, in my mind. I mean, you're always going to have bad apples, or cops that go bad on the job, but the important thing is how the organization deals with it (or doesn't deal with it). I'd like to believe that Deputy Sandberg is not a brutal cop who was a ticking time-bomb waiting to go off tragically, that he truly just made a horrible judgement call under stressful conditions, in terms of over-estimating the danger posed by Sgt. Loggins and under-performing in terms of defusing a potentially violent situation peacefully, but you wouldn't think that from his lack of official statement (and the stated position of the Police Union). He doesn't seem sorry at all for having done this and was hiding in anonymity as long as possible. Of course that's what the lawyers advise, but if Sandberg wanted us to believe it was a mistake, he would have said so by now.
When I applied in 1999 for the LAPD I was given a battery of tests. Physical & mental. Then interviewed by three persons on my outlook on what was most troubling to me regarding the community. I think this was a way to weed out people just looking for a job with no foresight as to what was right and wrong. When I applied for the sheriff's dept. the old dude who was an ex police officer I think or maybe actually working rejected me on the spot. He was totally arrogant and his demeanor was above the law. I had such a distaste for him and I only interviewed for 10 minutes. The sheriff dept. had absolutely no public relations skills. Were other interviewers like this one? I have know idea but I imagine they are all trained this way.
They have a 250-character limit. It says a copy is sent to every Supervisor, and I sent a copy to Supervisor Bates myself, but here there are: What is the status of the investigation into the shooting death of Marine Corps Sergeant Manuel Loggins by OCSD Deputy Darren Sandberg in San Clemente on Feb 7th?? Is an indictment pending?? Is the DA busy with something more important?? I obviously have more to say on it than that, but that's 237 characters...
I majored in Criminal Justice.
Thank you Beverly. I've given up trying to chat with these people. Too much BS between them. Please to not give up. That is what they want. The SILENCE of the LAMBS.....