Malibu Sheriff's Detectives Receive Valor Awards

Written by City News Service

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris has presented Valor Awards to four detectives from the Malibu and Century sheriff's stations, it was announced Wednesday.

The presentations were made on Thursday during a regional meeting of law enforcement officials from Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

The awards are for efforts made to protect public safety during 2012, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Detectives Lt. David Thompson and Jill Greenwood of the Malibu Sheriff's Station were honored for apprehending a suspect who allegedly kidnapped and threatened to kill his estranged wife, her boyfriend and himself.

Thompson and Greenwood followed the man from a restaurant and, disregarding their own safety, apprehended him  when he reached for a concealed waistband while he was in the vicinity of pedestrians, according to the department.

On Nov. 16, 2012, Detectives Armando Arevalo, Gerardo Magos and Grant Roth of the Century Station were on patrol in the unincorporated Florence area when they saw a group of five to seven gang members walking near the corner of Parmalee Avenue at 81st Street, according to the department. Four of the gang members later fired at the detectives, and Magos fired a number of rounds, preventing the gang members from advancing as Roth cleared a jammed weapon, according to the department. The three detectives eventually fired at the suspects, repelling the attack, according to the department.

Magos had to undergo emergency surgery, according to the department.