Manuel “Tony” Arceo wasn’t scheduled to be working patrol when the call came over the radio on Tuesday, July 9, 1974. A robbery at a Baldwin Park pawn shop had turned into a hostage situation with an armed individual.
The 31-year-old El Monte police officer was scheduled to be in court that day and that night was to be honored by the City Council for saving a blind couple from a burning mobile home.
Instead, Arceo and other El Monte officers responded to provide back up to Baldwin Park. In those days the department shared a radio and resources with neighboring Baldwin Park and Irwindale.
Fellow El Monte patrol officer Ken Jeske responded along with Arceo to the pawn shop but was soon called away to respond to a murder back in El Monte. He said while it was uncommon for a supporting officer to be on the frontline on another city’s call, it wasn’t for Arceo.
“Tony was always there, he was right up front,” Jeske said. “He was fearless.”
Former El Monte Police Chief Ken Weldon was a patrol officer in 1974. He was about to respond to the pawn shop with a handful of flak jackets when Arceo approached. Weldon told him he was going to take the vests to the scene.
“He says, ‘no, I’m going to do it,’” Weldon said.
The gunman, who had been firing at responding officers, ran out of the store firing and was greeted by law enforcement gunfire. In the chaos, Arceo was struck by a ricocheting bullet from another officer.
Dennis Timmins remembers pulling his fellow El Monte officer to a next door building before Arceo was loaded into a police car and rushed to the hospital.
His El Monte colleagues each noted that Arceo took great pride in not just his job but how he presented himself on duty. They described Arceo as in top physical condition dressed in a pressed uniform, polished shoes, shiny badge with neatly trimmed hair and mustache.
“He was the kind of person that probably didn’t put up with people who weren’t hard workers. He was an…
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