Pleaded No Contest To The Shooting In Van Nuys

A 20-year-old who admitted shooting into an LAPD helicopter in 2011 has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. The Los Angeles County, CA, District Attorney’s office says that Danny Anthony Lopez, who was 18 at the time of the incident, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Martin Herscovitz after he pleaded no contest in August to two counts of assault on a peace officer with a semiautomatic firearm.

Deputy District Attorney Michael Blake with the Crimes Against Peace Officers unit said Lopez admitted opening fire on the police helicopter, striking it and forcing it to make an emergency landing at Van Nuys Airport. No one was injured inside during the April 24, 2011, incident. Lopez fired on the police helicopter shortly after 6 a.m. near Saticoy Street and Densmore Avenue. He was arrested about an hour later.

In exchange for his plea, two felony counts of attempted murder of a peace officer, one count of shooting at an occupied aircraft and one count of carrying a loaded firearm in a street gang with the allegation that he personally discharged a firearm were dismissed.

(LAPD helicopter photo from file)

FMI: http://da.co.la.ca.us