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Mayor’s wife allegedly shot husband in self defense

October 7, 2014
Police officers stand by the scene of a shooting in Bell Gardens, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014. Bell Gardens mayor Daniel Crespo was shot to death Tuesday during an argument with his wife, who was taken into custody, authorities said. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Police officers stand by the scene of a shooting in Bell Gardens, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014. Bell Gardens mayor Daniel Crespo was shot to death Tuesday during an argument with his wife, who was taken into custody, authorities said. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

BELL GARDENS (CNS) – The son of Bell Gardens Mayor Daniel Crespo told a 911 operator the day his father was fatally shot that his mother pulled the trigger, but he insisted she was defending herself, according to a recording of the call released today.

In the roughly two-minute phone call following the Sept. 20 shooting, a breathless and crying Daniel Crespo Jr. told a Bell Gardens Police Department dispatcher, “I have to report an emergency. My parents got in an argument and there were shots fired.”

It wasn’t my mom’s fault. She was defending herself,” Crespo Jr. tells the dispatcher.

The dispatcher asks him if “your mom shot your father,” and he responds, “Yes. He hurt me. He’s on the floor dying, OK. He hurt me,” he said.

Mayor Daniel Crespo, 45, was killed in the shooting. His 43-year-old wife, Lyvette, was questioned but was not arrested. Sheriff’s officials said they would complete their investigation and then present the case to the District Attorney’s Office, which will decide if any criminal charges are warranted.

According to the Sheriff’s Department, Lyvette and Daniel Crespo were involved in an argument when Daniel Crespo Jr., 19, tried to intervene. The mayor and his son then fought, and the mayor allegedly punched his son in the face. Lyvette Crespo then grabbed a gun and shot her husband multiple times, sheriff’s officials said. He died en route to a hospital.

Lyvette Crespo’s attorney, Eber Bayona, contends his client was a longtime victim of domestic violence. The mayor’s brother, William, has denied the allegation, accusing Bayona of trying to create an alibi for his client.

William Crespo later told ABC7 that the mayor was having an affair, and he believed that likely triggered the argument that led to the shooting.