Man Shot to Death by Off-Duty Officer

An off-duty police detective shot a man to death at the detective’s apartment house in Hollywood Tuesday when the man threatened to kill him and attacked him with a lug wrench, Los Angeles police said.

The dead man was not identified.

Lt. William Hall said Officer Bill Eagleson and his wife were leaving their home in the 500 block of North Hobart Boulevard when they saw a car, draped with a parachute cover, parked illegally in their subterranean garage.

According to Hall, Eagleson pulled off the cover and found the man--who apparently had been living in the car--asleep inside. The man became angry, pulled the wrench from the trunk and threatened Eagleson.

The officer then fired three shots, striking the man, Hall said.

Police records show that in December, 1987, Eagleson was involved in another off-duty shooting, in which he exchanged gunfire with a man whom he observed beating a woman. The gunman was wounded after Eagleson fired 16 rounds from a 9-millimeter pistol.

While on duty, Eagleson was involved in a fatal shooting in January, 1987, and another in January, 1988, records show.