Local : Orange Man, 28, Slain by Police in Anaheim After High-Speed Chase

A unarmed 28-year-old Orange man was fatally shot in the parking lot of a motel by Anaheim police officers early today after he appeared to reach for a weapon, police said.

Robert Vincent Edson died at 1:56 a.m. at Western Medical Center in Anaheim of a single gunshot wound to the torso, said Anaheim Police Lt. Marc Hedgpeth.

No weapon was found on Edson, Hedgpeth said.

Hedgpeth said officers tried to stop Edson after they saw him driving without headlights in a residential neighborhood near La Reina and Greenbrier streets. Edson led officers on a 45-minute, high-speed chase through Anaheim, Garden Grove and onto the Santa Ana Freeway. He stopped at the Galaxy Motor Inn at 1735 S. Harbor Blvd. near Disneyland, where he reportedly was registered as a guest.

Hedgpeth said Edson appeared to reach into his waistband and turned toward two officers who had ordered him to stop. The officers fired, Hedgpeth said.

The two officers, whose names were not released, were put on administrative leave pending an investigation of the shooting by the police and the Orange County district attorney’s office, Hedgpeth said.