Southern California's street-gang problem drew national attention Wednesday when the FBI announced that a South Whittier gang member sought in a brutal attack on two sheriff's deputies would be placed on its 10 most wanted list.
Emigdio Preciado Jr., also known as "Junior," "Trigger," "Spooky" and "Snyper," will join a list that includes Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Colombian drug lord Diego Leon Montoya Sanchez and Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger.
A member of the Southside Whittier Mexican gang, Preciado is the alleged triggerman in the Sept. 5, 2000, attack on Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputies Michael Schaap and David Timberlake in Whittier.
The deputies were on patrol in a marked car when they pulled over a 1979 Chevrolet van for having faulty headlights.
When the van stopped, Preciado, one of four occupants, appeared in an open door and fired a burst of 21 shots from an automatic weapon, according to sheriff's detectives.
One round pierced the patrol car's windshield, striking Schaap in the forehead, critically wounding him. The van sped off.
"The brutal assault on these deputies, or on any police officer, is an affront to every citizen who relies on law enforcement for protection," said Steve Tidwell, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles office. "These men and women are the front line in combating street crime, and senseless attacks against them -- such as the one allegedly committed by Emigdio Preciado -- will not be tolerated."
FBI officials agreed to put a Southern California gang member on the most wanted list after local law enforcement sought the agency's help in battling an upsurge in gang violence.
Including Preciado on the national most wanted list is an "important step" in bringing him to justice, Sheriff Lee Baca said Wednesday.
"The conditions of justice require that this suspect, Preciado, be captured, brought back here, put into the justice system and ultimately be sent off to prison," Baca said during a news conference at FBI headquarters in Westwood.
Detectives believe that Preciado, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, has fled California, so the FBI obtained a federal warrant for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
The FBI showed a videotape of a smiling Preciado dancing at a holiday party in Nayarit, Mexico, just three months after the shooting, and Tidwell said there is a good chance he is in Mexico.
