Authorities Thursday identified a young man who was killed in a deputy-involved shooting in the unincorporated Westmont area near South Los Angeles.
The shooting occurred about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday in the 1100 block of West 109th Street, near South Budlong Avenue, said to Deputy Trina Schrader of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau.
Robert Avitia, 18, of Los Angeles died at the scene, according to the coroner’s office and the sheriff’s department.
According to the sheriff’s department, deputies approached a group of people in the area when one of them produced a gun, shot at deputies and ran off.
“He fled… through the yards and got down to the next street and produced a handgun,” sheriff’s Lt. Robert Westphal told reporters at the scene. “He pointed the gun at deputies and a deputy-involved shooting occurred. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene and a there was a weapon next to him. ”
No deputies were injured. The suspect was wanted in connection with the death of a person in South Los Angeles on May 1, KCAL9 reported.