Officer Nicki Sandoval is the shooter of her partner, Pete Rennick, which was in self-defense when she was to report him as a dirty cop.
History[]
Sandoval was offered by Rennick to join him in stealing money and drugs from dealers and raking in the cash, but she refused without ever reporting him. He also gave her a .32 unregistered handgun he stole from a gun shop burglar, Harding Cistal, telling her she should be ready to plant it on a shot suspect. When Rennick killed young dealer Ricky Powers, having another dealer, Brutus Walker, call 911 so the pair would arrive on the scene, Sandoval was finished covering for him, recording their dialogue on a microcasette she hid in her uniform, which he never knew about. However, Rennick figured she'd be a liability and planned to kill her.
When Brutus escaped and threw a man with his girlfriend out of her apartment building, Rennick and Sandoval were called for backup. Rennick snatched Sandoval's service piece and shot at her, but she returned fire with the .32 he gave her and killed him with a bullet in his neck. Sandoval wiped her prints and threw the gun out of the building. Logan never liked her because she didn't grieve openly for Rennick. The gun was found taken by Revina Price, who wanted it for self-defense against abusive men.
Walker wanted to offer leads in exchange for immunity, but he was arrested, as well as eventually cleared. Rennick's crimes were tracked, as well as Sandoval's inconsistencies in her testimony discovered, so she was questioned. She confessed in full, even gave the tape recording of the night she was shot at and killed Rennick. Stone testified in front of the grand jury to her justifiable homicide, and she was likely acquitted and released, albeit risking losing her job she wanted since she was six. Her status on her conspiracy charges remains unknown. (L&O: "A Death in the Family")