A Pomona Police Department SWAT officer has died after being shot by a known gang member while serving a search warrant at a home in San Gabriel, officials announced early Wednesday morning.
“It is with a heavy heart that we must deliver the news” of Officer Shaun Diamond’s death, the Police Department said in a statement.
Diamond, 45, was one of 14 SWAT officers who participated in a multi-agency operation early Tuesday morning at a home in the 100 block of San Marino Avenue.
The 16-year law-enforcement veteran, who had been with Pomona police for 8 years, was the first officer to enter the residence and was struck when a suspect fired a single round from a shotgun, investigators said.
Diamond was hit above his bullet-proof vest, possibly in the back of the head, police Chief Paul J. Capraro said at a Tuesday news conference. He was wearing a Kevlar helmet at the time of the shooting, Capraro said. The officers did not return fire.
Diamond underwent surgery at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, where the father of two was surrounded by family members and colleagues, police Lt. Michael Keltner said Tuesday.
After his death was announced Wednesday morning, his flag-draped body was placed in a coroner’s van outside the hospital and escorted by a police procession to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office in Boyle Heights.
Keltner described Diamond as a “top-notch guy” and “wonderful human being” who was active in the community, especially with children.
That sentiment was echoed by Diamond’s mother in an interview on Wednesday.
Joy Diamond described her son as a generous man whose organs were donated after his death, and who had previously donated a kidney to his son.
She said she that, while she was at the hospital following Tuesday’s shooting, she had received about “200 hugs” her son’s colleagues.
“I heard all day from fellow officers: ‘Shaun’s a hero,'” she said. “Shaun’s my hero.”
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KTLA’s Tracy Bloom, Kennedy Ryan, Crystal Garcia and Alberto Mendez contributed to this report.