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# Local resident charged with shooting cop braces for trial
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/local-resident-charged-with-shooting-cop-braces-for-trial/
- Published: 2006-09-26T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T21:25:58.000Z
- Author: Kevin Herrera
- Tags: Crime, Pico, #archive-import

*Suspected gang member due to stand trial*

LAX COURTHOUSE — A suspected gang member is expected to stand trial today for shooting at two undercover Santa Monica Police officers in February, wounding one in the wrist.

Michael German Espindola, 21, a resident of Santa Monica, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a firearm, one count of shooting at an occupied motor vehicle and one count of unlawful firearm activity.

In addition, the complaint against Espindola alleges the attempted murder near the corner of 20th Street and Pico Boulevard was to further the activities of a criminal street gang and that Espindola personally discharged a handgun. He has been held on $2.4 million bail.

If convicted, he faces up to life in prison, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

A motion was filed by Espindola’s attorney to have the trial postponed, allowing for more time to prepare a defense. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Katherine Mader will consider the motion today at 8:30 a.m. in Department D of the Airport Courthouse, according to a court clerk.

Deputy District Attorney Frank Tavelman believes the motion has a “75 percent chance” of being granted, even though the trial was postponed six weeks ago for similar reasons. “Either way, I’m ready to go,” Tavelman said.

If the motion is denied, jury selection could begin as early as today, however, Tavelman believes it would take at least one day to assemble prospective jurors for questioning.

Following the Feb. 2 shooting, which occurred around 5 a.m., officers immediately sealed off the area and conducted a search, locating two suspects in an apartment building in the 1900 block of 17th Street near Santa Monica College. The department’s SWAT team was deployed and negotiated the surrender of the suspects at approximately 6:15 a.m., police said. In the end, only Espindola was arrested and charged in the incident.

Officer Walter Ramirez, a 4-year-veteran of the department, suffered a “through and through” wound to his right wrist, and was transported to UCLA Medical Center, where we was treated and released.

Shortly before the shooting, the suspects were observed acting suspiciously in the parking lot of the Ralph’s grocery store at 1600 Cloverfield Boulevard. Officers in a marked patrol car notified Ramirez and his partner, who were in an undercover unit assigned to burglary suppression. The two observed the suspects drive off in a blue van and proceeded to follow them at a distance of roughly two blocks, police said.

The officers lost sight of the suspects’ van around 18th Street and Pico Boulevard. As the officers drove south on 17th Street, they noticed the van parked in a driveway. As Ramirez drove closer, a suspect, believed to be Espindola, jumped from the passenger side of the van, raised a weapon and fired three rounds, one striking Ramirez in the right wrist as he tried to drive away from the scene, police said.

His partner “saw the suspect raise his arm holding a firearm,” said former SMPD Chief James T. Butts hours after the incident. “He yelled ‘gun, gun.’”

The officers did not return fire, Butts said.

The incident wasn’t the first time an officer had been targeted in the area. According to Butts, an officer was shot at while patrolling 19th Street and Michigan Avenue roughly 18 months prior. The officer was not injured and the suspects were taken into custody shortly after the shooting.

Concerned community members have warned the City Council about a relatively high crime rate and gang violence in the neighborhood adjacent to Santa Monica College.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 26, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/092606.pdf?ref=smdp.com)