Deputy Sheriff Steve Belanger succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained on December 10th, 1994, when he was ambushed while conducting a traffic stop in the 18400 block of La Guardia Street in Rowland Heights.
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Belanger was shot moments after he noticed Gregory D. Powell drive down a Rowland Heights street.
Belanger stopped the car and handcuffed Powell. As Belanger began questioning a teenage girl who was also in the car, Hagemann, a friend of Powell's, skated past and opened fire. The bullets struck Belanger in the head and foot.
Hagemann escaped with Powell and the teenage girl. But about an hour later, an anonymous caller contacted the Sheriff's Department and said Hagemann had confessed to shooting Belanger and was planning to kill himself.
Hagemann fatally shot himself later that night outside Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Paramount. Investigators recovered the weapon used in the attack on Belanger at the scene.
Powell later surrendered and was convicted of the assault Belanger had arrested him for, but he was not charged in connection with the attack on the deputy.
At the time of the shooting, Belanger was married, and he and his wife were parents to a 15-month-old daughter, Nicole.
Surgeons were able to pull bone fragments from Belanger's head after the shooting but were never able to dislodge the bullet.
Belanger returned to light duty with the Sheriff's Department in 2000 before retiring in 2001. The injuries Belanger suffered from the gunshot had a severe impact on his health for the rest of his life