Police Slay Gunman in Hollywood Shoot-Out

A Hollywood man who had threatened to kill law enforcement officers was himself shot and killed Thursday afternoon in an exchange of gunfire with police in a Hollywood parking lot, authorities said.

The dead man was identified as Steven Douglas Flowers, 37. He had been sought since Saturday when he allegedly fired at a California Highway Patrol officer in southern Orange County. The officer’s car was struck, but he was not injured in the Saturday incident.

At about 2 p.m. Thursday, Los Angeles Police Department officers spotted Flowers at a pay telephone on the corner of Western Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard.

“Literally, as an officer was pulling (Flowers’) picture out of his pocket, the suspect quickly jumped into his car and sped off,” Assistant Police Chief Robert Vernon said.

Police raced after him, and in the course of the 10-minute chase, Vernon said, Flowers fired at officers with a modified 30-caliber M-1 carbine. The pursuit ended when Flowers crashed his truck on Sunset Boulevard, got out and fired at pursuing police, investigators said.

Eyewitness Roy Hill, 48, a beer salesman from Mission Hills, said he was making a delivery in the neighborhood when he saw a silver pickup truck crash into another vehicle. He said the pickup driver got out, fired at police and walked slowly toward an Arby’s fast-food restaurant on Sunset.

“He didn’t look frantic,” Hill said. “He was just walking. I figured he was going into Arby’s to take hostages. He was walking so slowly, it appeared like he was looking for the door.”

No police officers were hit, but Flowers was shot several times as he slowly made his way toward the restaurant.

Flowers eventually fell spread-eagled in the Arby’s parking lot. His body remained there for several hours while police investigated the incident.

The shoot-out came only hours after Flowers allegedly called the CHP dispatch center in Santa Ana on the 911 emergency number and indicated that he planned to take revenge on officers for a search of his Hollywood apartment. He claimed that about $4,000 was taken in the search.

“He said he was going to start killing officers if he didn’t get his $4,000 back, and each officer is worth $5,” CHP Officer Lyle Whitten said.

Dispatchers talked with Flowers long enough to trace the call, Whitten said. In the two minutes before Flowers hung up, the CHP traced the call to a pay phone in Orange County.

CHP officers and Orange County sheriff’s deputies converged on the site within minutes, but Flowers had left, according to Whitten.

According to deputies, Flowers was a suspected drug dealer with a history of “violent confrontations” with police.

Police said Flowers had arrests dating from 1972, including charges of narcotics trafficking, theft, drunk driving and assault on a police officer.

Times staff writer John Kendall contributed to this story.