Steven Edward Belanger was a Deputy Sheriff with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department who never recovered from wounds suffered in an ambush during a traffic stop on December 10, 1994. While conducting the stop in the 18400 block of La Guardia Street in Rowland Heights, Belanger recognized the driver as someone wanted for a prior assault. As Belanger searched the vehicle’s occupants, a friend of the driver approached from behind on a skateboard and shot Belanger in the back of the head.

The shooter fled and, according to reports, committed suicide about an hour later; investigators identified no further perpetrator in that immediate attack. Doctors could not remove the bullet from Belanger’s brain, and he remained under constant medical care and in a wheelchair until he died on February 6, 2018, of complications tied to the 1994 gunshot wound. The incident prompted an extensive investigation and drew attention to officer safety during traffic stops.

If anyone knew Deputy Belanger, the people in that car that night, or the events on La Guardia Street on December 10, 1994, please share what is known with the forum.