One of the two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies, seriously wounded in an ambush attack Saturday, has been identified as 31-year-old Claudia Apolinar, a former librarian-turned-rookie cop who may have saved her partner’s life.
As The Daily Wire reported Monday, Apolinar was shot through the jaw in the attack, but after radioing for help, stopped to tend to her partner, who was shot in the forehead, arm, and hand. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department released a still photo of Apolinar Monday, showing her bleeding from a face wound.
“LASD & the families of the two ambushed deputies have given me permission to show this graphic photo of the moment after they were shot. I’m told female deputy was shot through jaw, still radioed for help & applied tourniquet to male deputy’s wounds. Both stable now,” FOX LA reporter Bill Melugin noted upon the photo’s release.
The Sheriff’s Department released an extended video on Tuesday.
WARNING: The video is graphic.
“She helped the other wounded deputy, got on the radio, provided medical care, got him to a place of safety ’cause they didn’t know if there was another attack coming their way,” Sheriff Alex Villanueva noted in an interview on Monday,
Tuesday morning, Apolinar’s family released more information about the 31-year-old. In addition to being a mother of a 6-year-old boy, Apolinar is new to the force, having only applied to become a deputy three years ago.
“Claudia Apolinar, who is being guarded by fellow members of the sheriff’s department while she and her partner – a 24-year-old deputy – continue to recover, worked as an aide in a Los Angeles Country library starting in 2011. In 2017, she applied to be a sheriff’s deputy,” Fox News notes, citing the Daily Mail, which published the news first.
“Apolinar, who is a 31-year-old mother to a 6-year-old boy, and her partner were ambushed Saturday night while sitting in their car at a metro center in Compton,” the outlet continued. “They were rushed to the hospital, where their conditions were later stabilized.”
Protesters attempted to block the entrances and exits to the hospital where Apolinar and her partner were treated, reportedly shouting anti-police slogans and, at one point, even trying to rush the emergency room.
“It’s an extreme situation. She was shot in the face, shot in the upper torso several times,” LASD Lt. Brandon Dean told the Daily Mail, per Fox. “To have the wherewithal to get yourself out of the vehicle and the line of fire in case it continues, but then to take care of your partner, initiate radio traffic make sure the civilians in the area are safe, it shows a lot about her courage and intestinal fortitude.”
Apolinar’s family has been by her bedside since the attack and held a vigil Sunday night as Apolinar and her partner recovered from their wounds. She and her partner are both reportedly stable but remain in critical condition. Her partner is said to be alert.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department doubled a reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the attack. Police are now offering $200,000.