Separate Incidents in Lennox, Inglewood : 1 Dead, 2 Hurt in Shootings by Officers

Lennox sheriff’s deputies say that a man they shot and killed after a prolonged struggle Tuesday may have been under the influence of the drug PCP.

In a separate incident in Inglewood last weekend, police officers shot and wounded two young men suspected in a car theft and a robbery.

In the Lennox case, John Robbins, 24, was killed early Tuesday in his home on the 4800 block of West 134th Street, Deputy Eric Smith said.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office routinely investigates shootings involving sheriff’s deputies. Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Healey, who is investigating the Lennox case, gave this account:

Deputies Roland Choi and Gean Okada responded to a disturbance call about 3 a.m. Robbins had awakened neighbors with incoherent shouting and had broken into the house of a family across the street.

Grabbed Teen-Age Daughter

“The neighbors said he grabbed their teen-aged daughter in a bear hug and kept screaming, ‘The lights are going to get me,’ ” Healey said.

Robbins returned to his house as the deputies arrived and fought with them in the house. Robbins continued screaming incoherently and struggled so intensely that deputies could not handcuff him. Witnesses told investigators that at one point all three men appeared to have stopped moving from exhaustion.

Robbins grabbed one deputy’s gun, but the deputies wrestled it back. When Robbins took the other deputy’s gun, he was shot.

Healey said Robbins appeared to have been shot three times but could not confirm the number of wounds.

An autopsy was being performed Wednesday to determine whether Robbins had taken PCP, a drug that sometimes sends users into a frenzy in which they display unusual strength.

Neighbors told police that Robbins’ house was a center of drug activity and that he had previously been involved in fights in the street, Healey said.

The Inglewood shootings last Saturday came as police were arresting two suspected gang members.

Police Sgt. Harold Moret said the pair, both believed to be members of the Family gang that operates in the Florence-Crenshaw area of Los Angeles, are suspected of threatening a man in Inglewood with a shotgun Nov. 9 and fleeing in his 1975 Buick Century.

Dove for Cover

Saturday evening, two young men, fitting the descriptions of the pair and riding in the same vehicle, pulled up next to Thomas Orta as he was washing his car in the 600 block of East Fairview Boulevard. Orta dove for cover when they pointed a shotgun at him, and they drove away, Moret said.

Minutes later, police said, the pair in the car stopped three teen-aged boys at gunpoint near Centinela Avenue and Edgewood Street. The boys were robbed of about $300 in cash and jewelry.

Inglewood officers spotted the car, and after a brief chase stopped it in a cul-de-sac in the 600 block of East 68th Street.

The 17-year-old driver was shot once in the right side as he tried to run toward a fence, Moret said.

“He was going through his clothing with his hands, leading the officer to believe he had a gun,” Moret said.

The other suspect had also jumped out and was shot in the leg after he ignored an order to freeze and dove back into the car, Moret said.

The passenger, William (River Rat) Younger, 21, was treated and discharged from the County-USC Medical Center. The condition of the 17-year-old suspect, whose name was not released because of his age, was not known, Moret said.

Outstanding Arrest Warrants

Both suspects are being held without bail and have been booked on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, armed robbery and grand theft auto charges. The juvenile has outstanding arrest warrants for burglary and escape, police said.

The department is conducting a routine investigation of the shootings. On the advice of Assistant City Atty. Jack Ballas, Moret declined to release the officers’ names until the investigation is completed, saying to do so might jeopardize the inquiry.