Theft Suspect Shot to Death in Scuffle With Officer

A struggle between a suspected thief and a plainclothes police officer in a busy Woodland Hills parking lot ended Wednesday in the suspect’s death after he smashed a rum bottle over the officer’s head and the officer opened fire, Los Angeles police said.

The shooting occurred at 11:30 a.m. in front of an Alpha Beta supermarket in the 6200 block of Topanga Canyon Boulevard when two officers attempted to question four occupants of a faded red Volkswagen. The officers, who had been watching the men, suspected they had been stealing items from stores in the shopping plaza, which is across the street from the Promenade Mall, police said.

The man who was shot was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where he died an hour after the incident. His name was not released.

Officer Larry Capra, 31, who fired at the man three times after being struck with the bottle, was also taken to the hospital, where he was treated for cuts to his face and head and admitted for observation, authorities said.

3 Men Ran

The three other men from the Volkswagen ran as the scuffle broke out. Two were later captured nearby and arrested on suspicion of thefts from the stores. Police identified them as Jose Gonzales, 29, and Adolfo Rodriguez, 26. Their addresses were not available. The fourth man escaped.

Lt. William Hall of the LAPD’s officer-involved shooting unit said Capra and his partner, Officer Robert Sola, 27, were on a plainclothes “crime-suppression” detail at the shopping center because of a recent rash of thefts from cars belonging to shoppers.

Hall said the officers saw the four men drive into the parking lot and watched as they made several trips into different stores. They repeatedly moved the Volkswagen to different parking places at the plaza, Hall said. The men were wearing heavy jackets, and the officers suspected they were stealing from the stores, Hall said.

“They decided to stop them and see what they were up to,” Hall said.

The officers parked behind the Volkswagen near the supermarket’s entrance and asked the men to step out of the car, Hall said. One man became argumentative and started walking away, Hall said. When Capra brought him back, he started pushing the officer, Hall said. At that point, Gonzales, the car’s driver, ran away, Hall said.

Sola chased Gonzales through the parking lot, Hall said. While he was gone, Capra and the argumentative suspect started fighting, Hall said. When Sola heard shots fired, he returned to his partner and Gonzales escaped, he said. Meanwhile, the remaining two suspects also got away.

“The fight between the officer and the suspect started as a shoving match and then got heavier and heavier until it was a fight for their lives,” Hall said. “The suspect reached into his coat and pulled out a bottle of rum and hit the officer over the head. The officer was injured and, fearing for his safety, fired.”

After the shooting, police searched the area and captured Gonzales and Rodriguez. The fourth man is still being sought.

The shooting occurred while many drivers, shoppers and store employees were in the plaza.

‘He Just Collapsed’

Karen Shechtman was working in a bank in the plaza when she heard shots and looked through the bank’s doors. “I looked and suddenly saw a man holding his stomach and running,” she said. “Then he just collapsed.”

She said employees of the bank locked the doors and took cover.

“At first, it was hard to tell who was a police officer and who wasn’t,” said Evan Gordon, a video cameraman who was driving through the parking lot when he saw a man, gun drawn, chasing another man.

Gordon was getting his camera ready to film the event when he heard three shots from the other end of the parking lot.

“When I got there, there were two men down on the ground moaning,” he said.

The bank remained closed through much of the day as police cordoned off the area where the shooting occurred.

Detectives spent several hours studying evidence and looking through items found in the car. Among the material were wallets and pairs of shoes investigators suspected were stolen from the stores, Hall said.