The morning of May 25, Anahi Diaz of San Fernando woke up eager to finish preparations for her partner’s 30th birthday party. They were expecting about 50 friends and relatives of all ages for the evening’s festivities, which were set to include a DJ and a live banda.
Diaz had no idea the joyous occasion would end abruptly and violently. Just after 11 p.m., a neighbor the couple had never met before, opened fire into the backyard party with a semiautomatic weapon, sending panicked guests scrambling for cover. The shooter – Martin Rodriguez, 61, who lived four houses away – wounded five people, including Diaz’s sister.
Diaz said she deems it a “miracle” that they all survived, especially her sister because it took about “25 to 30 minutes” for the paramedics to arrive at her side – and it would have been an even longer wait if Diaz had been less assertive.
“I couldn’t understand why it was taking the ambulance so long to get there,” she told the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol, recalling that her partner looked outside to see what was happening. That’s when they realized “the paramedics aren’t coming” – police had set up barricades because the suspect hadn’t been apprehended yet and it was still considered an “active shooter” situation.
“I literally had to run down the street to the next corner, where the paramedics had stopped, and I said, ‘Please come help my sister!’ I just kept telling them that and everybody was hesitant,” Diaz recounted. After more pleading, she finally convinced them to follow her on foot to her house, where they rendered aid and eventually transported her sister to the hospital.
Diaz later learned that the wife of one of the shooting victims had actually driven him to the hospital because the ambulance couldn’t get to the house earlier. While Diaz feels grateful that no one was fatally injured, in the months since the incident she has also felt troubled, wondering why it had to be so difficult to get help for her sister while she lay “bleeding out” in the backyard from the gunshot wounds to her torso and “screaming out in pain,” Diaz recalled through tears.
Community Watch Meeting
With this heart-wrenching memory in mind, Diaz attended the Aug. 28 Community Watch meeting presented by the San Fernando Police Department (SFPD). Although she didn’t speak publicly during the meeting, she spoke with SFPD Chief Fabian Valdez and another officer privately, to ask them what, if anything, they might consider doing differently the next time a similar mass shooting incident happens to help ensure that victims receive medical aid more quickly.
“I understand that they don’t want to jeopardize anyone’s safety [and] they want to get the shooter. I understand all of that – that’s what I explained to the chief,” said Diaz, “I told him that I know that the biggest thing is apprehending the shooter, but what about helping the victims?”
In a nutshell, the response she received was that SFPD was following active shooter protocol.
“The one officer told me they do have active shooter training [and] said maybe I didn’t see the police officers that were there, trickling in,” said Diaz. “I told him, ‘I know they were, but not inside my house to get my sister out or to take a good look around the property to see how they could get her out safely … or to communicate with paramedics to get them there to help her.’
“Couldn’t [they] have put [officers] standing guard by the gate,” she continued, “to make sure the paramedics wouldn’t get hurt while they’re coming through the opposite side of the house?”
What is Active Shooter Protocol?
Valdez explained that SFPD’s active shooter protocol involves establishing an emergency “hot zone” when a shooting suspect remains at large, to minimize risk of additional injuries.
“A hot zone is basically an area that is considered susceptible to people getting shot; the situation is not safe in that area,” said Valdez, noting that in active shooter scenarios “the first order of business is to stabilize the crime scene by neutralizing the shooting threats so there are no additional hazards suffered by others – including medical first responders.
“Although the suspect eventually barricaded himself at his nearby residence,” he added, “the scene was still very perilous because [after shooting into the party], the suspect continued firing at the police helicopter.”
In response to Diaz’s question about why police officers didn’t transport her sister or other victims to the hospital, Valdez stated, “Police officers don’t normally move the victims from the areas where they’re found … because [we] don’t want to exacerbate their injuries.”
According to the Los Angeles City Fire Department, which was the medical first responder in the May 25 shooting, fire department personnel are directed to “not enter the immediate area where a direct threat is believed to exist.” That includes active shooter incidents where the suspect is not in police custody and/or hot zones, which are deemed “an immediate danger to life and health.”
“Our firefighters were directed to wait for the San Fernando PD to clear the scene before taking action,” the department said in a statement to the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol, noting that four ambulances eventually transported four patients to the hospital, starting at 11:44 p.m.
Diaz said she wished she had been informed immediately not to wait for the paramedics.
“At the very least they should be more transparent to the people they are there to help,” she said. “If they would have told me, ‘They [the paramedics] are not going to come in’ then I wouldn’t have waited so long and figured out we might need to put my sister in my car and take her to the hospital ourselves.”
The Night of the Shooting
The evening of May 25, the party was in full swing, with loved ones chatting and enjoying the music in the backyard while kids played in a jumper in the front yard of the house on Orange Grove Avenue in San Fernando. At about 11 p.m., SFPD officers knocked on the couple’s door to let Diaz and her partner know there had been a noise complaint about the party.
“But they told us we didn’t have to shut down the music,” said Diaz. “They said, ‘We’ll give you a little more time – you can have another hour.’”
With that assurance, the band members resumed playing. But less than five minutes after the police left, Diaz said she suddenly heard some loud “popping sounds” and initially wondered if someone was setting off fireworks, which was fairly common in the neighborhood.
“Honestly, we didn’t really know what was going on when [the shooting] started – I think everybody thought it was fireworks at first,” she recalled. Then one of the guests signaled people to move away from the backyard gate because he thought he heard someone shooting.
“Then he said, ‘Cut the music!’ – that’s when the shooter got close enough for us to see and people started running,” said Diaz. “He was walking and shooting as he approached the house, and some people said they heard him yelling, ‘Shut up!’ I turned to look and I saw the gun, and I saw him just shooting straight into our backyard.
“He came to kill people, not to shut off any music – he wanted to kill,” she added. “I thank God for the way everything worked out. As horrible as it was, at least everybody’s still alive.”
Suspect Remains in Custody
Rodriguez – who lived on the 1900 block of Warren Street – was a stranger to Diaz and her partner, who moved into their home on Orange Grove Avenue in January of 2023. She had never seen him before, and her partner had only seen him in passing a few times, but they had never spoken.
SFPD – which was assisted by several police agencies, including Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, LAPD and LA County sheriffs – apprehended and arrested Rodriguez on the front porch of his house about two hours after the initial shooting. He remains in custody at Pitchess Detention Center North Facility in Castaic. His original $9.8 million bail amount was modified to no bail.
Rodriguez was charged with two counts of shooting at an inhabited dwelling and vehicle, two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm against a peace officer and seven counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. His next court appearance will be a preliminary hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 2 at the San Fernando Courthouse of the LA County Superior Court.
Diaz said she plans to attend all of Rodriguez’s court hearings and will “continue to push and advocate for all the victims [and for] my family” in pursuit of justice – especially for her sister, who was the most gravely injured victim. She spent nearly two months in the hospital before being released in mid-July, and “is still recovering, but she’s a lot better now,” she said.
“I [want] to ensure that he gets the sentence he deserves for putting us through the worst day of our lives,” said Diaz. She also hopes the SFPD, other police agencies and fire departments “figure out a different protocol to possibly save more injured victims” moving forward.
“They [should] not just wait for the shooter to surrender whenever he feels like it and then dispatch paramedics,” she continued. “The victims’ lives matter above the active shooter’s life, and getting aid to the victims should always be [the] priority.”
The SFPD, other police agencies, and the fire departments already follow a protocol that saves lives. If they don’t neutralize the shooter, then the shooter may kill more members at the party, police officers and fire fighters. This incident is all a result of an individual going crazy over loud music or perhaps other trauma triggered by the loud music. I am glad the victims are doing well.
Although these protocols are made to “save lives” the outcome has not truly reflected that to the extent that it should which is what Diaz is explaining. Yes the shooter needs to be neutralized but under the circumstances they were under, there was clearance for them to come in as the shooter was on the other side of the property already barricaded. Every second counts and with more than one victim, one specifically being severely injured, could have costed another innocent persons life due to the lack of communication.