LAPD detectives skeptical that officer accused of shooting hoax fired gun accidentally

LAPD detectives are skeptical of Los Angeles School Police Officer Jeffrey Stenroos' claims that he accidentally shot himself and then blamed the incident on a fake assailant, sources have told the Los Angeles Times.

One source said the bruising on Stenroos' chest -- from where a bullet apparently hit his protective vest -- appears to be inconsistent with a typical gunshot at close range. Though the officer has said the gun went off outside El Camino Real High School, detectives are not convinced, the sources said.

Stenroos was booked last week on suspicion of making a false police report in connection with the alleged hoax that shut down seven square miles of the west San Fernando Valley. Police spent days searching for a parolee whom they believed shot the officer. Then suspicion began to fall on Stenroos. 

The law-enforcement sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was open, said Stenroos had given several contradictory accounts of exactly what happened. Detectives, they said, are still trying to determine whether the shooting was an accident or in some way connected to Stenroos'  professional or personal life.

Detectives continue to examine physical evidence from the scene of the reported shooting Jan. 19 just east of El Camino Real campus. They also are conducting interviews with Stenroos' colleagues and examining his background for any possible reasons that the eight-year school police veteran might have misled authorities.

"Right now, we have more questions than answers," said a senior LAPD official about the status of the investigation.

Investigators said Stenroos' behavior in the days after the shooting made them suspicious. Repeatedly, they tried to arrange a meeting with Stenroos; they said they hadn't wanted to press him too hard while he was in the hospital and now needed to conduct a follow-up interview. Stenroos, according to the sources, seemed to be avoiding them.

Days after the incident, Stenroos checked himself into Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, complaining of chest pains.

Source said that on Thursday he confessed his original story was a hoax. They said his chest had bruising similar to what would be caused by a bullet hitting his protective vest, but they're not sure of the circumstances -- including whether any shooting actually occurred next to the school.

RELATED:

Officer accused of shooting hoax says gun accidentally went off

Officer's story of being shot was inconsistent from the beginning

Outrage, disappointment over police officer who allegedly lied about being shot

-- Andrew Blankstein and Richard Winton

Photo: Los Angeles School Police officer Jeffrey Stenroos. Credit: Los Angeles Unified School District

Comments

[Marcy Twane]

Are these contradictory statements in the same story (or are they saying that it was a gunshot from afar)???

"One source said the bruising on Stenroos' chest -- from where a bullet apparently hit his protective vest -- appears to be inconsistent with a typical gunshot at close range."

Vs:

"They said his chest had bruising similar to what would be caused by a bullet hitting his protective vest, but they're not sure of the circumstances -- including whether any shooting actually occurred next to the school."

[u know]

Is it Ground Hog Day? Seems to me that the same news story is just getting regurgitated over and over......

[the broken shovel]

Keep digging, Stenroos.

[pat]

What a baby, too bad he couldn't have aimed his gun a little higher.....just a thought....saves on embarrassment later.

[Backbone]

As a survivor of crimes and cover-ups, I wonder if all the truth will ever be revealed.

Will there be years of footdragging, stonewalling, hardball legal manuevers and cover-ups until the public becomes so desensitized that everyone just forgets about that horrific day and the effects it's had on kids and the public's safety?

I wonder if damage control tactics will prevail over the interest of public safety and preventing such alleged crimes in the future. I guess police and prosecutors will decide what's more important. Who knows? Sad.

[whoo_whoo]

Ask his wife, or girlfriend. Especially if he has a wife, and a girlfriend.

[Lae]

Marcy, the two statements are not contradictory at all. The bruising on the officer's chest is consistent with bruises received from a bullet hitting his Kevlar vest, but NOT consistent with those received from a bullet hitting the vest at close range.

[David]

It's scary that cops lie about stuff this serious, the public really expects them to be 100% honest since they have so much power (and get more and more every year).

[Mr Vanderdecken]

I hope someone there Apologized to the Suspect that caused all this?

I wonder what would have happened had the Police actually caught the Suspect. Would the officer had gone along and said the Suspect was lying. Would the Police have banded together and supported this liars statement and yet another Innocent man sent to jail for a crime committed by others?

Makes you stop and wonder sometimes.

[Marlena]

His jilted lover shot him and he doesn't want to get her in trouble - DUH!

[u know]

Cops are people, of course they lie, YOU lie too, everybody breathing air right now has lied at sometime or another. If you say you haven't then guess what you're doing right now...

The thing to remember from all of this is that the lie was discovered and exposed by the police department, they would not go along with or allow a cover up of this incident regardless how embarassing it may be.

Cops are not perfect, and neither are you. Don't expect them to be so, hop off of that high horse of yours and stop judging.

Unless of course you have never lied, you never made a mistake, you never let someone else down, or you never failed to to be the best person you could possibly be every single day of your life.....

Didn't someone once say "to err is human"?

[Richard Carpenter]

Cops usually protect their own in beating cases. "The little old lady lunged at the Officer and he was forced to[ beat/ Taser/ shoot/ choke] and arrest her."
This case did not involve a "civilian" so the cops did not close ranks around the lying cop. Fortunately, there were no "civilians" nearby. Had there been one, he would have been guilty of whatever he needed to be guilty of to explain the bruise patterns on Officer Stenroos. Whatever weapon would best explain the bruises on Officer Stenroos would have been found in in the suspect's clothing a few days later. "A spokesman said the suspect was carrying a Bridgeport milling machine in his pants pocket. The two-ton machine was missed during the initial search of the suspect's clothing."

[TruBlue]

Hello! His Code X shot him...

[Insurrextion]

Maybe he was trying to be a hero. School cops don't get a lot of action.

[M. caceres]

If this cop was capable of trying to pull this scam,LAPD
shuold investigate him,on how many trafic tickets he wroted
to drivers,and lie about the facts on the tickets.

[air soft machine guns]

The awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong.