Officer Kills Man Attempting to Rob Him

An off-duty police captain who had stopped on Western Avenue in South Los Angeles early Saturday to make a phone call shot and killed a young man who attempted to rob him at gunpoint, police said.

Police did not release the identity of the 18-year-old dead man because his relatives had not been notified. The police captain was not injured.

Capt. Maurice Moore, 52, a 26-year veteran of the police force and commanding officer of the West Los Angeles station, had stopped at a sidewalk phone booth in the 5800 block of South Western Avenue about 1 a.m. He was dressed in a tuxedo, having attended a Friday night event, and had just dropped off a relative.

While Moore was on the phone, the man approached him, drew a handgun and ordered Moore to hand over his wallet, police said. Moore tried to grab the gun and in the struggle, Moore drew his semi-automatic pistol and fired two shots at his assailant, police said. Paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene.

The shooting is under investigation by the department’s officer-involved shooting detail and robbery-homicide detectives.