A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was justified in fatally shooting a 15-year-old boy and wounding another teenager who tried to rob him in Arcadia almost two years ago, according to a document released Thursday by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors determined that Officer Quingyang Yue “acted reasonably and lawfully in self-defense” in fatally shooting Darrius Smith and wounding a second teenager in the 400 block of First Avenue on May 26, 2017.
Yue was walking home from an Arcadia train station stop when he was approached and struck three times on the right side of the face before Smith pointed what authorities later determined was a pellet gun at the off-duty officer and demanded his iPhone, wallet and backpack, according to the document.
Yue — who feared that the teens would discover that he was armed and a law enforcement officer — drew his gun and fired at Smith, who was still holding the weapon in his hand, and then at the second teen, who lunged toward him, according to the document.
The 15-year-old boy — who had marijuana in his system at the time of his death — died from multiple gunshot wounds, prosecutors noted. The other teenager suffered gunshot wounds to his left hand, left buttocks and left thigh, and a Juvenile Court petition charging him with robbery was subsequently sustained, according to the document.