Local News in Brief : Officer Kills Suspect

A Palmdale man was shot to death by a South Gate police officer early Thursday when he pulled a gun on the officer and told him that he was “not going to jail,” authorities said.

South Gate Police Sgt. Steve Porter said two officers were on patrol in the 8400 block of Cypress Avenue at about 1 a.m. when they stopped to question two men sitting in a late-model Honda. The answers to the officers’ questions were evasive, especially about the ownership of the car, Porter said.

Then, according to investigators, one of the occupants said, “OK. The car’s stolen, but I’m not going to jail.”

Porter said the man pulled out a .32-caliber semiautomatic pistol and pointed it at one of the officers, whose names were not released. One officer stepped back and fired one shot, mortally wounding the man in the head, Porter said.

Pronounced dead at the scene was Christopher Stephen Culp, 24.

Porter said the second occupant, Salvador Carrillo, 22, of South Gate, was arrested and booked for investigation of grand theft auto, robbery and murder. But the case against Carrillo may be dropped if investigators determine that he had no role in the shooting or events leading up to it, Porter said.