LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner will begin its inquest into the shooting death of Andres Guardado Monday. Los Angeles County Sheriff Deputy Miguel Vega allegedly shot the 18-year-old after he took off running June 18 near an auto body shop in Gardena.

Retired Justice Candace Cooper will preside over the public proceeding and is expected to announce witnesses Monday. After the hearing, Cooper will make findings related the cause and manner of death. The inquiry is the result of a motion from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors calling for transparency into the shooting.

What You Need To Know

  • Retired Justice Candace Cooper will hear from witnesses to the Andres Guardado shooting Monday

  • The coroner's autopsy showed the Gardena teen was shot five times in the back

  • The L.A. County Sheriff's homicide investigators recovered no video evidence of the shooting

  • The last coroner’s inquest happened in 1981 and was vital in determining the cause of death of football star Ron Settles

“It is beyond troubling that the investigation of Mr. Guardado’s killing has been conducted by LASD under a deliberate cloud of secrecy,” said former Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas in the motion that triggered the inquest. “In this time when reform should bring more transparency rather than less, LASD insists that it should be trusted to investigate itself.”

Sheriff’s homicide investigators have said they were unable to recover any video or find witnesses to the shooting besides Vega and another deputy, Chris Hernandez, who did not open fire.

The inquest comes months after the coroner released Guardado’s autopsy against the wishes of the Sheriff’s department, showing the teen had been shot five times in the back.

“The horse is out of the barn already,” said Sheriff Alex Villanueva in an interview with Spectrum News 1, noting that the Coroner has already deemed the death a homicide. “They could do the coroner’s inquest on future things and we welcome the opportunity because we have nothing to hide.”

Villanueva said the coroner jeopardized the investigation by releasing the autopsy before Deputy Vega had given a statement on the shooting.

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The last coroner’s inquest happened nearly forty years ago and was vital in determining the cause of death of football star Ron Settles, who was found dead in his jail cell after being pulled over for speeding in Signal Hill in 1981. Police said Settles hanged himself, but an inmate testified during the inquest he heard officers beating Settles. A coroner’s jury ruled Settles died “at the hands of another” not suicide.

“It was to clear his name that he didn’t have drugs, that he wasn’t on drugs and that he did not take his own life,” said Settles’ aunt Juanita Matthews. “That was the main focus at that time.”

No officers faced charges as a result of the 1981 inquest.