A curfew will be in place in Santa Ana Monday night in response to a protest planned to rally for justice in Compton deputies’ fatal shooting of Andres Guardado, an 18-year-old Latino man.
The curfew, announced just before 6 p.m., will be in effect from 10 p.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday. The order was issued “in response to possible civil unrest,” city officials said in a news release.
Between those hours, everyone will be prohibited from being outside except for those seeking emergency care, fleeing danger and traveling to and from employment and religious services. The order does not apply to law enforcement, fire and medical personnel, or members of the media.
Demonstrators are expected to gather around 8 p.m. Monday at the corner of Bristol Street and McFadden Avenue to demand prosecution of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who shot and killed Andres Guardado last Thursday. Officials say Guardado was armed, but they don’t believe he fired his gun before deputies shot six rounds at him.
Family members say the teen was working as a security guard, but investigators say he didn’t have a state license and wasn’t wearing a uniform.
Andrew Haney, a manager at the auto shop Guardado was shot near, told the Associated Press that Guardado would sometimes come directly from his job elsewhere as a security guard to learn from mechanics and to keep guard to stop graffiti.
A protest over Guardado’s death Sunday in Compton ended in a harsh crackdown, with deputies using flashbangs, pepper balls and smoke grenades on protesters. The demonstration had otherwise appeared to remain peaceful.
Santa Ana’s curfew comes weeks after most Southern California cities abandoned their orders, despite ongoing racial unrest sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.
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