LAFD, Firefighters Need Help, Man With Gun

Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire at 474 Solano, when they encountered a man with a hand gun:Jeff Zimmerman on scene for So Cal Fire Journal.

A man who threatened to shoot firefighters sent to a small blaze today was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy when he pointed his gun at the lawman, sheriff's officials said.

The deputy, assigned to the sheriff's Transit Service Bureau, was flagged down by firefighters as a fire burned in the 400 block of Solano Avenue, near Broadway, said sheriff's Sgt. Diane Hecht.

Matt Spence of the Los Angeles City Fire Department said firefighters were dispatched to 474 W. Solano Ave. at 4:49 a.m. on a call of an outdoor fire.

Hecht said when firefighters parked their rigs and began walking down the road to the apartment, the suspect came from the apartment building armed with a handgun shouting "I have a gun." The firefighters took cover.

She said the deputy driving by at that moment was flagged down by firefighters. He also took cover, and saw the suspect waving a handgun in the air. The deputy ordered the suspect several times to drop the gun. The suspect did not comply and instead pointed the gun at the deputy, who fired at the suspect hitting him.

The man was taken to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead about 5:30 a.m., Whitmore said. Spence said the suspect was a man, approximately 35 years old.

Although firefighters at one point told reporters they had been shot at, "as far as we know, he (the suspect) did not fire his weapon," said Steve Whitmore of the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau. Hecht said the suspect's handgun was recovered at the scene. No deputies or firefighters were injured.

The outside fire was small and was quickly extinguished once the suspect was subdued, said L.A. Fire Capt. Tom Sammartano. Although the shooting and fire were in the City of Los Angeles, sheriff's homicide detectives would handle the investigation of the deputy-involved shooting, Whitmore said.

The suspect's name was not immediately released.
Photos Copyright:Jeff Zimmerman