Article from The Hill by Zack Budryk.

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who allegedly fabricated a story of being shot by a sniper has been fired, the department announced Wednesday, according to ABC News.

“As of last night, Angel Reinosa is no longer employed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department or the County of Los Angeles,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said in a news conference Wednesday, according to the network.

The incident is also under criminal investigation, Villanueva said. Reinosa, 21, had been a probationary deputy and allegedly told investigators that he invented an account of being shot in the chest last Wednesday outside the sheriff’s Lancaster station while walking to his car, saying his bulletproof vest saved his life.

“We are all appalled and disappointed. We took the deputy at his word at first,” Villaneuva told the Los Angeles Times Sunday when news of the hoax first broke. “We intend to hold the individual responsible for breaking the law and most importantly for betraying the community.”

Read the entire article at The Hill.

Image Credit: By Jamelle Bouie [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons