Daughter of L.A. police union boss involved in shooting of pellet-gun-wielding woman

When Jacqueline McBride and two other Los Angeles police officers fatally shot a woman wielding a replica revolver in Silver Lake last week, McBride became the third member of her immediate family to shoot someone in the line of duty.

The officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Rampart Division responded to a call about 7:55 p.m. Wednesday that a woman in a trench coat was pointing a gun at passersby in the area around Silver Lake Boulevard and Temple Street, according to a police account of the incident.

On arrival, they encountered Mariela Cardenas, who matched the suspect’s description, near the overpass of the 101 Freeway, police said.

Police said Cardenas ignored commands to drop the weapon and instead pointed it at the officers, who fired in response. But after the shooting, they saw she was holding a pellet gun that looked like a revolver, with a black barrel and brownish grip, according to a photo on the LAPD website.

Cardenas was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The Times could not independently verify the department’s version of events. The LAPD has up to 45 days to release footage from the officers’ body cameras and other video sources, which could shed further light on the events leading up to the shooting.

Emails left for Jacqueline McBride and the other two officers involved — Miguel Salazar and Preston Moseby — weren’t immediately returned Monday. McBride joined the LAPD in 2020.

Most officers go their entire careers without firing their weapons. A Pew Research Center study in 2016 found only a little more than a quarter of officers have fired a weapon while on duty.

But with last Wednesday’s shooting, three members of the McBride family have now been responsible for shooting eight people.

McBride’s father, Jamie McBride, outspoken vice president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, was involved in at least six police shootings, none fatal, in the first 11 years of his career. His other daughter, Toni McBride — an Instagram shooting celebrity and model who joined the LAPD in 2017 — fatally shot Daniel Hernandez in 2020 in South Los Angeles after he moved toward her with a knife.

After a months-long internal investigation, a civilian police commission that oversees the LAPD found the last two of her six shots were out of policy. By that point in the incident, Hernandez, 38, was lying on the ground. But Toni wasn’t fired or prosecuted for the shooting.

Earlier this year, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office cleared McBride of wrongdoing in the incident. But the ruling was met with skepticism because it was based in part on the “expert opinion” of a police use-of-force consultant whose work has been criticized as illegitimate for years.

The case drew widespread attention in part due to McBride’s controversial persona as a sharp-shooting influencer on social media — where her critics say she glorifies police violence. Another factor was her father’s influence in policing circles. Jamie is one of nine directors of the powerful Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file officers in labor and discipline issues.

Jamie posted a series of Facebook videos in early June celebrating his fellow officers as they squared off against protesters. The videos, titled “Hold the Line,” featured rows of cops staring down shouting activists and officers posing in front of graffiti that threatens violence against “pigs.” One of McBride’s pro-police videos comes with a soundtrack, AC/DC’s “Shoot to Thrill.”

Toni also appears in the videos, smiling and decked out in full riot gear. She is a popular figure among some gun enthusiasts, with multiple online videos showing her blasting away at targets, sometimes in a T-shirt labeled “Warrior.”

Unlike her sister Toni, Jacqueline McBride seems to avoid the limelight.

When reached by phone Monday, Jamie McBride decried what he saw as unfair coverage of police shootings over the years by The Times.

“Bottom line is no one wants to take a life, but if somebody points a gun at you, an officer has to respond to protect their lives,” he said, declining to comment further.

The incident will be reviewed by LAPD investigators and the findings presented to the LAPD’s civilian oversight commission. Such investigations typically take from several months to a year.

Times staff writer Nathan Solis contributed to this report.