Police Shoot 2, 1 Fatally, in Separate Incidents

Los Angeles police officers killed a reputed gang member Friday night and, in a separate incident, shot and wounded a motorist who allegedly tried to run down two officers, authorities said Saturday.

Louis Segura, 27, was shot and killed in South-Central Los Angeles when officers said he pulled a handgun from beneath his jacket after being stopped on Broadway near 69th Street.

Officer Richard Ludwig, who told investigators he feared he was about to be shot, fired two rounds at Segura, hitting him in the throat and shoulder, police said. Segura died at the scene.

Detective Glen Day, a police spokesman, said Ludwig and his partner had stopped Segura and another man about 11 p.m. as they were running south on Broadway. The second man was questioned and released. Day said he did not know why the men were running.

In a related incident, a pedestrian was struck at Main Street and Slauson Avenue by a police car rushing to the shooting scene, police said. Arthur Hamilton, 50, was in stable condition at County-USC Medical Center with a broken leg.

In a shooting several hours earlier, two Los Angeles police officers wounded a 20-year-old motorist after a 25-minute chase through South-Central Los Angeles, East Los Angeles and the city of Commerce.

Manuel Rosas suffered two gunshot wounds to the left shoulder and was treated in the jail ward of County-USC Medical Center, police said.

Officers Gerald Ballesteros and Anthony Addo opened fire on Rosas as he allegedly drove his car at their vehicle, but then turned at the last moment to avoid a collision, Day said. Rosas was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.

The chase began at 6:40 p.m. Friday when the officers tried to stop Rosas near 25th and Wall streets. Police said Rosas and his car, a red Datsun 280Z, matched the description of a suspect and vehicle in an apparent gang-related murder in the same neighborhood. Investigators later determined that Rosas was not the murder suspect.