Sheriff Villanueva says Burcher 'remains as captain' after comments on Andres Guardado case
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Wednesday that Capt. John Burcher "remains as captain" amid an administrative investigation after comments he made on Facebook about the case of Andres Guardado.
When asked about Burcher's status with the department during an interview with ABC7 on Wednesday, Villanueva said, "Well, we don't comment on personnel matters. However, he remains as a captain and it's a administrative investigation and we have to keep in mind though, he made the comments as a private person, not as a public official. However, because of who he is then obviously, the link is made there with his official capacity, so we have to keep that in mind."
Burcher has been reassigned from his chief of staff position to the department's East Patrol Division.
Guardado was shot in the back five times by a deputy in Gardena last month.
Burcher wrote, among other things, that 18-year-old Guardado "CHOSE his fate."
He was using his personal Facebook account and replying to a local news story posted on Facebook about the Guardado case.
He wrote, "Why so much coverage over Guardado? What about Isabella Cortes and Patricia Alotorre? Why does this guy, who CHOSE his destiny get so much coverage from you, but the two slain, one raped and slain, 13 year old girls get NOTHING??"
Sheriff Villanueva said on Wednesday that the Guardado investigation is ongoing and there are more witnesses to interview.
"We finished interviewing the deputy on Monday. There's two more witnesses that are still outstanding. And once that is done, we are going to be able to present all the information and release everything. We're gonna do it all at once. And we're not going to piecemeal it as some people are demanding, but we're going to release all the information," he said.
Watch the video above for the full interview.
Family of 18-year-old fatally shot by deputies in Gardena calls for independent investigation
