A sheriff’s deputy who had a bullet lodged in his head from an
on-duty shooting 24 years ago has died, the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy
Sheriffs said. In 1994, Steven Belanger had been on the force for
seven years when a man on a skateboard rode up to him and shot him in
the head and foot in Rowland Heights as Belanger was investigating an
assault.
Surgeons were able to remove bone fragments from his head after the shooting but could not recover the bullet. The
sheriff’s deputy association said that Belanger’s retirement, health
issues and ultimately his death on Tuesday were related to the shooting.
Surgeons were able to remove bone fragments from his head after the shooting but could not recover the bullet. The
sheriff’s deputy association said that Belanger’s retirement, health
issues and ultimately his death on Tuesday were related to the shooting.
Belanger was 29 years old with a wife and infant daughter at the time
of the shooting, according to reports at the time. He had pulled over a
driver he recognized as a suspect from a recent assault and was
interviewing a teen girl with him when 20-year-old Matthew Hagemann
approached him from behind and opened fire. Hagemenn was a friend of the assault suspect and later fatally shot himself in front of a Catholic church in Paramount.
