An armed robber was shot and killed Tuesday at the end of a standoff with a sheriff’s SWAT team at a gas station convenience store when he opened fire on deputies, authorities said.
No deputies were injured during the confrontation, which began around 9:15 p.m. Monday at an am/pm store at a 24-hour Arco gas station at 13550 S. Beach Blvd., the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported.
The suspect, who was in his 40s, died at the scene, said coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter. His name was withheld, pending notification of his relatives.
Deputies went to the scene on a report of a robbery in progress and saw a man “standing at the front door of the store — holding a handgun — who matched the description of the person in the call,” according to a sheriff’s statement.
Deputies said they gave several verbal commands to the suspect to drop the weapon, but he ignored them and walked back into the store. No employees or customers were inside.
A Special Enforcement Bureau SWAT team was summoned, and crisis negotiators spoke with the suspect by phone, but he refused to surrender.
“While the suspect was inside the store, he fired one round through the front window of the location,” according to the sheriff’s statement. “Special Enforcement Bureau personnel encountered the armed suspect as he walked to the front door of the location, holding a handgun (and) a deputy- involved shooting occurred with one of the SEB deputies.”
According to authorities, the suspect retreated back inside the store, then “again exited the location, pointed and fired at the Special Enforcement Bureau personnel (and) a second deputy-involved shooting occurred involving two SEB deputies.”
Surveillance images of the shooting were being reviewed by detectives. The shooting will be investigated by the sheriff’s homicide and internal affairs bureaus and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
—City News Service