On February 22, 1983, a standoff ensued at the Alpha Beta Supermarket in Newhall, leaving the suspect shot multiple times by a deputy.

Late afternoon on February 22, 1983, Deputy Dan McCarty of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was on a routine patrol when he witnessed a car stopping hastily in front of the Alpha Beta Supermarket entrance.

The perpetrator, 23-year-old Ricky Lee Ledesma, and a woman companion, 20-year-old Kelly Knowles, had been questioned by deputies at the Zuni campgrounds on Bouquet Canyon Road earlier that day regarding a stolen credit card case at a local gas station, according to The Newhall Signal at the time.

In haste, Ledesma then grabbed a .22 caliber rifle and pointed the barrel at Knowles’ neck. He then led her away from deputies to his Ford Pinto and sped off down Bouquet Canyon Road, then Magic Mountain Road, before speeding onto the 5 Freeway going southbound.

He got off on the Lyon Avenue exit with several patrol cars following behind and sped into the Alpha Beta Supermarket parking lot. Ledesma got out of the vehicle, rifle in hand, and ran into the supermarket.

Once inside, he shouted threats at the numerous busy shoppers to move out of his way, waving around his gun. Ledesma took a woman shopper – later determined to be the wife of a Los Angeles Police Department officer –  and jammed his rifle against her neck and threatened to shoot her. Officers were still steps behind Ledesma, guns drawn.

Standing the closest, Deputy McCarty shot Ledesma first in the right cheek. This made Ledesma throw his hostage to the ground, though he was still standing.

“It was as if the whole thing was in super-slow motion,” McCarty later recalled. “I watched as the first bullet left my gun and struck the suspect in the right cheek, exiting at the rear of his head. The impact caused him to jerk to his left, throwing his hostage to the floor face-down. The gunman’s rifle also started moving to his left toward me as I fired the second shot and watched it strike him in the upper torso. The third shot struck him in the right rib cage, exiting his back, and struck a display of Pepsi cans behind him, causing some of them to explode. The fourth and fifth shots struck him in the buttock as he was falling to the floor, facing away from me, and the sixth shot struck him in the left leg just below the buttock. The shooting seemed like it took an eternity, but in fact it was less than three seconds.”

Afterwards, Deputy McCarty announced that the suspect was in custody as officers rushed onto the scene. Ledesma, in critical condition, lying on the floor, looked at McCarty and said, “I know you.”

McCarty then realized it was the very same Ricky Lee whom McCarty had known since the crook was 16, when he burglarized cars and lockers at Canyon High School before being ousted from the educational institution..

Ledesma was placed in cuffs and transported to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, where he died that night.

Knowles was uninjured and was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.

For yesterday’s Today In SCV History, click here.

KHTS FM 98.1 and AM 1220 is Santa Clarita’s only local radio station. KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.