The Baldwin Park Police Chief mystery

I’ll give you a hundred bucks (figuratively of course) if you can figure this one out:

Two official camps are making very different claims as to how Baldwin Park Police Chief Edward Lopez’ departure went down Wednesday night.

Councilman Ricardo Pacheco and the Baldwin Park Police Association are saying Lopez was fired in a closed session performance evaluation at the City Council meeting.
Everyone else in the city and on the council says Lopez retired.

About a week ago, I got a tip that the council was looking to terminate Lopez over his refusal to make more budget cuts to the department — a claim the police association backs.
Today, officers told me when Lopez left City Hall chambers Wednesday night, he told his men he had been “fired.”

Still the council — except Pacheco — stands by their retirement claims, and Councilman Anthony Bejarano said the association was “regularly misinformed.”
None the less, Lopez was not at work Thursday and city officials seemed to be confused as to when he would be back in, if at all.

Look for more in tomorrow’s paper.