Andres Guardado: 18-year-old guard shot dead by LA cops after he produced handgun and ran from officers
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles police shot dead an 18-year-old security guard after he produced a handgun and tried to escape from the scene when approached by officers.
Andres Guardado was guarding an autobody shop located in Gardena, in the city's South Bay region, against graffiti taggers on the evening of June 18, CBS Local reported.
At some point, he allegedly spotted officers patrolling the area on foot and produced a handgun. According to the report, cops scared Guardado by having "pulled their guns" while approaching him, prompting him to flee southbound between two businesses.
As soon as he bolted, the officers began chasing him on foot before one of them fired a gun — fatally striking Guardado in his upper torso at about 6 pm.
"We had a security guard that was out front, because we had just had certain issues with people tagging and stuff like that," said Andrew Heaney, the autobody shop owner. "The police came up, and they pulled their guns on him and he ran because he was scared, and they shot and killed him."
"He’s got a clean background and everything. There’s no reason," Heaney added.
Guardado "produced a handgun" before fleeing the scene when deputies first saw him, according to a sheriff's department spokesperson.
“Deputies observed the individual, at which point he observed the deputies,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Lieutenant Charles Calderaro said. “The individual then produced a handgun and then began running southbound away from the deputies through businesses nearby. Deputies engaged in a short foot pursuit between the two businesses, at some point the deputies contacted the suspect and that’s when the deputy-involved shooting occurred.”
At the time deputies spotted Guardado, he was not believed to be wearing a security guard uniform. The officers later recovered a gun at the scene.
Later, heartbroken friends and family of the deceased security guard were spotted confronting deputies and demanding answers in what has been described as a "very tense situation."
Heavy police presence and flashing sirens remained late into the night at the 400 block of Redondo Beach Boulevard.
Paramedics were called to the scene before they pronounced the man dead, the LA Country Fire Department said in a statement.
That said, this is the second fatal shooting involving an LAPD deputy in two days. Terron Jammal Boome, identified as the half brother of Robert Fuller, was killed in an LAPD deputy-involved shooting on Wednesday, June 17. Fuller was found hanging from a tree in Palmdale.
The LASD put out the following statement on the incident:
Homicide Investigators have learned that Detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Major Crimes Bureau were searching for a kidnap domestic assault suspect.
The investigation lead the Major Crime’s detectives to the 3400 block of 15th Street in the City of Rosamond. The Detectives observed and positively identified a male matching the suspect’s description in a vehicle. Detectives followed the vehicle and attempted a traffic stop. The suspect opened the front passenger door of the vehicle and engaged the Deputies by firing multiple rounds at them with a handgun.
At that time, an officer-involved shooting occurred during which the suspect was struck several times in the upper torso. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene. The female driver was also struck by gunfire and transported to a local hospital where she was treated and released. A seven-year-old girl was also in the vehicle and was uninjured. A handgun was recovered at the scene. No deputies were injured.
If you have information in connection with any of the aforementioned incidents, you are encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.