[symple_googlemap title=”Maple Avenue and 27th Street” location=”Maple Avenue and 27th Street” height=”300″ zoom=”15″]
A 23-year-old man shot and killed by police in South Los Angeles last month was allegedly armed with a handgun when he ran from officers, who feared he might harm a woman heard yelling in the rear of a home where the suspect had fled, the Los Angeles Police Department disclosed Thursday.
Pablo Renato Cartagena of Los Angeles was shot about 1 p.m. on Nov. 28, near Maple Avenue and 27th Street and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the LAPD.
Officers from the department’s Metropolitan Division were on a crime suppression detail in the area when they saw Cartagena looking into a vehicle parked at the curbside on Maple Avenue south of 27th Street, according to a statement published Thursday on the department’s website.
“The officers believed Cartagena may be preparing to break into the vehicle and they stopped their unmarked police vehicle to conduct an investigation,” police said. “Cartagena ran from the officers and the officers saw he was armed with a handgun.”
Cartagena ran to the rear of home and the pursuing officers stopped out front and began requesting additional units to set up a perimeter, according to the LAPD.
“As the officers waited, they heard a female yelling in the rear yard,” police said. “Fearing Cartagena was going to hurt the female, the officers ran toward the rear yard. When one of the officers reached the rear yard, he fired five shots at Cartagena, striking him.”
A loaded handgun was recovered near Cartagena, which LAPD investigators believe belonged to the suspect, police said.
The LAPD did not say if its investigation revealed that Cartagena actually pointed the gun at the officers or at the woman before the Metro officer opened fire.
The identity of the officer who shot and killed Cartagena was not revealed by the department.
–City News Service