From left to right: Deputy District Attorney Tony Cho, Carrie Beltran, and District Attorney Jackie Lacey. Photo by Brittany Woolsey.
A lesson was learned at the Rotary Club of Long Beach meeting on Wednesday afternoon: never come between a mother and her baby.
Carrie Beltran, 31, of Long Beach, was one of five area residents recognized Wednesday by District Attorney Jackie Lacey for acts of heroism at the Courageous Citizen Awards Ceremony aboard the Queen Mary.
The ceremony, which has honored more than 700 over its existence, has been an annual event since 1985.
Beltran was awarded for successfully stopping a robbery in progress at her uncle’s jewelry store on July 16, 2012 after dropping off her infant daughter to be watched by relatives. After she left, a robber entered the store and beat Beltran’s uncle with a gun.
Beltran saw the incident from outside the store and was let in by her aunt, then grabbed her baby. She then passed the baby to a customer in the store and approached the suspect.
“You don’t have any bullets left,” Beltran told the suspect, eventually garnering the support of the others in the store by rallying them together against the suspect.
An employee and passerby detained the suspect until police arrested him. Police learned that the suspect was, in fact, carrying a loaded gun, although he never attempted to shoot at Beltran. The suspect was charged with two counts of second-degree robbery with personal use of a firearm and great bodily injury and was sentenced to 20 years in state prison.
“This is the most fearless woman I’ve ever met,” said Deputy District Attorney Tony Cho as he presented Beltran with her award. “The entire incident was just chaos. She stood up to this armed robber and it’s just unbelievable.”
Other winners at the ceremony included three men—Jeffrey Wood, Raul Real, and Erick Aquino—who detained a suspect after he fled the scene of a drunk driving accident that left one woman dead and another severely injured while another woman—Jessica Sanchez—was also recognized for saving her friend from a gang-related assault.
“Today, we are here to say thank you to five people who took incredibly brave steps to protect victims of crime,” Lacey said. “Not only did they make the hard decision to intervene in spite of danger, they also helped advance justice.”
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