Deputy Sheriff Michael Lee Hoenig, 32, was shot and killed while on patrol in South Gate, California, in the early morning hours of October 30, 1997. At about 1:15 a.m. he stopped a man acting erratically on a bicycle on the 3000 block of Seminole Avenue. As Hoenig prepared to question the individual, the man opened fire, shooting through the rear passenger window of the patrol car. Deputy Hoenig, wearing a bulletproof vest, was struck multiple times, including a fatal wound to the neck. He was found outside his patrol car with his service weapon beside him and was pronounced dead shortly after arrival at St. Francis Medical Center.

A suspect, Enrique Parra Duenas, was arrested near the scene roughly 45 minutes later after being located hiding in a crawl space and bitten by a police dog; investigators recovered a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol discarded in nearby rosebushes. Duenas was charged with murder. Deputy Hoenig had served three years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after a prior seven-year tenure with another agency and is survived by his parents, two brothers, and a sister.

Are there readers who recall the neighborhood or have details about the incident that could add to the timeline?