The emotional recording reveals a scene of anguish following the
Sept. 30 shooting of Bell Gardens Mayor Daniel Crespo.
Someone can be heard wailing and sobbing loudly in the background
before a person hurriedly tells the police dispatcher that his
mother shot his father while trying to protect herself.
"It wasn't my mom's fault. She was defending herself," said the
19-year-old son, Daniel Crespo Jr., according to a copy of the
recording published online by the Los Angeles Times.
"He hurt me. He's on the floor dying. OK? He hurt me," the son says.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Oct/08/images/ads/current/culligan_sda_090414.gif) Daniel Crespo was shot multiple times by his wife Levette after
their son intervened in an argument they were having and got into a
fight with his father, officials with the Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Department said.
Crespo was pronounced dead at a local hospital, sheriff's officials
said.
Both Levette and Daniel Crespo Jr. were questioned by authorities
and released. No arrests have been made in the case, though
officials are continuing to investigate.
The couple, who have two adult children, had been married since
1986, a county spokesman said. In addition to serving as mayor of
Bell Gardens, Crespo worked as a Los Angeles County probation
officer for over 20 years.
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Levette Crespo's lawyer told reporters outside Bell Gardens City
Hall last week that the stay-at-home mother was a victim in the case
along with her husband, adding that she had been abused by him for
years.
Bell Gardens is about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Los Angeles,
spanning about 2-1/2 square miles with a population of about 45,000.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Crispian
Balmer)
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