A combative homeless man armed with rocks was killed in Huntington Park by a police officer whose partner was being menaced with a pipe.
The homeless man had been zapped by a stun gun, but it apparently didn’t stop him as he was being handcuffed.
No officers were injured in the shooting, which occurred about 2 p.m. Thursday along the railroad tracks between 57th and 56th Streets and between Malabar Street and Santa Fe Avenue, according to Huntington Park police Sgt. Joe Settles.
“Homicide detectives have learned that Huntington Park Police Department personnel received a call for service regarding a work crew attempting to clear railroad tracks, but a homeless person was refusing to leave,” according to Deputy Grace Medrano of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which was conducting the shooting investigation.
Officers arrived at the scene and “encountered a 35- (to) 40-year-old male Hispanic who had armed himself with rocks,” Medrano said.
The man was then zapped with a stun gun, she said.
“As the first officer attempted to handcuff the suspect, the suspect picked up a five-foot lead pipe,” Medrano said. “Fearing for his partner’s life, the second officer fired his duty weapon, striking the suspect.”
The man, whose name will be released by the coroner’s office, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Medrano said.
–City News Service