Policeman Shot to Death as He Chases Suspect

An undercover Inglewood police sergeant was shot and killed on a busy street Thursday morning while chasing a man suspected of robbing a courier and stealing his car, police said.

The officer, a 17-year veteran, was pronounced dead a short time later at Centinela Medical Center. His name was not released pending notification of relatives.

The 46-year-old sergeant was the first Inglewood police officer to die of violence in the line of duty in the city’s 80-year history, Police Chief Raymond Johnson said.

Otis Van Williams, 21, of Los Angeles, who police said is an unemployed transient, was captured near the shooting scene at La Brea Avenue and Arbor Vitae Street several hours later. He was arrested on suspicion of murder and robbery.

Police cordoned off a residential area just southwest of the Forum to conduct a block-by-block search for accomplices, one of whom may have been following in a second car. The intensive search was called off about 5 p.m., Johnson said.

Several witnesses and the suspect himself said he had accomplices, Sgt. Harold Moret said, but police were not sure how many. Chief Johnson said police recovered a .44 Magnum revolver with several rounds fired near the spot where Williams was arrested. Some cash believed to have been part of the stolen money was found in the pockets of Williams’ pants, Moret said.

“He’s changing his story around,” Johnson said of the suspect. “We’re not sure he’s the shooter. We’re still not sure how many were involved.”

Moret gave this account:

About 10:30 a.m., a man held up Masih Modani, 25, a money courier for several service stations in the area, who was leaving a station at Manchester Boulevard and Ash Avenue, east of the San Diego Freeway. The man forced Modani out of his car at gunpoint, made the courier hand over $2,000 and fled in Modani’s car.

Modani then spotted the undercover investigator driving an unmarked car and flagged him down. Modani knew the officer as an occasional customer at the station. Police had not determined whether the officer was on duty at the time.

Radioed for Help

The officer radioed for help and then he and Modani pursued the robber, who picked up an accomplice, according to witnesses. As the cars sped south on La Brea, the officer attempted to pull alongside the robber’s car and was hit in the chest by gunfire that passed through the door of his car.

The officer’s car went out of control and crashed into a building wall near La Brea and Arbor Vitae. Modani was not hurt.

“An officer in a marked car saw the crash and chose to help the officer when the officer told him he was hit,” Moret said. “He rushed him the two or three blocks to Centinela Hospital.”

The fleeing car went about six blocks east on Arbor Vitae, and then the driver fled on foot. Two hours later, Williams was found hiding in a stairwell and was arrested by police responding to calls from residents.

Heavily armed officers, including a SWAT team and canine units, cordoned off and searched about 16 blocks for five hours as police and news helicopters hovered overhead.

Kicked Down Door

Several suspects answering descriptions phoned in by residents were detained, but none was arrested. At one point, officers armed with shotguns kicked down a door of an apartment in the 500 block of Flower Street after a report that a woman was screaming inside. They found no suspects.

Aside from a motorcycle officer killed in a traffic accident in the 1950s, the officer slain Thursday was the first to die by violence in the line of duty since the city was incorporated in 1908, Johnson said. The city of 104,000 has a 187-officer police department.