When the shooting stopped, Redbeam looked like something out of a war zone. The bullet-riddled truck was stopped in the middle of the street, facing north, having lurched a few doors past the captain’s residence. Nearby homes, trees and cars were pockmarked by scores of bullet holes. Nobody living in the neighborhood was injured; most residents were in their beds and asleep when the shooting began.
The women had worked a number of low-wage jobs to make ends meet and live in a South Bay apartment with Margie’s teenage son and her sister. Jonas said a bullet pierced Hernandez’s upper back and came out of her chest, barely missing her heart. Another hit her in the lower back but bounced off, her lawyer said Tuesday. Carranza suffered less serious wounds, escaping the mayhem with cuts on both hands.
Not long after the shooting, Beck called it a “tragic misinterpretation” by officers working under “incredible tension.” The police department pledged to replace the truck, but the offer bogged down in public spat when the truck wasn’t speedily delivered. When the women were finally offered a replacement truck, it wasn’t just a different model, it was a vehicle the women would have to pay taxes for taking. The battle over the truck ended recently when the city agreed to give the women $40,000 to replace it.
Lawyers involved in the settlement said they were eager to put the shooting, and memories of Christopher Dorner, in the past. Days after the Torrance incident Dorner's charred remains were found in a Big Bear-area cabin after a shootout with police.
