Deputy Wounds Man Brandishing a Toy Revolver

A mentally impaired man who often dressed as a cowboy was shot and wounded outside a Lynwood fast-food restaurant Saturday by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who mistook the toy gun in the man’s hand for a real weapon, authorities said.

John Betts, 36, who lived nearby in a board-and-care home, was hit twice in the abdomen by shots fired by Deputy Darrel Airhart, a seven-year veteran, officials said. He was in critical condition at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.

Airhart had gone to the Carl’s Jr. restaurant at Century Boulevard and Imperial Highway after a caller reported a man brandishing a gun.

Betts “pointed what appeared to be a real firearm at the deputy, and the deputy fired back,” said sheriff’s spokesman Hal Grant. “It turned out the suspect had a replica of a .38-caliber revolver. . . . It’s an unfortunate, tragic situation.”

Betts had lived at the Highland Manor board-and-care center for about five months, according to Stephanie Buchanan, the center’s activities director. She said Betts suffered from unspecified mental problems but was free to leave the facility when he wished.

“This was like a little kid playing with a gun. That’s the mentality he had,” said restaurant manager Florentino Valle. “It’s really sad. We knew that he really was not harmful to anybody. But the police, they see the gun and they don’t know him.”

Deputies said Airhart was in the Lynwood sheriff’s station when a resident called to report that a man was carrying a gun in an alley near the restaurant. Airhart was the first deputy on the scene.