Man Wielding Stick Fatally Shot by Officer

A man wielding a 21-inch-long stick was shot and killed by a Los Angeles police officer early Wednesday as police responded to a report of an argument in the man’s El Sereno apartment building.

Ismael Michael Arredondo, 31, died at Alhambra Community Hospital of a single gunshot wound to the stomach.

Officer Maria Lopez, 28, was one of two patrol officers from the LAPD’s Hollenbeck station who went to Arredondo’s apartment about 12:30 a.m. and spotted him holding a 21-inch-long piece of wood, detectives said.

Lopez, a two-year officer, told investigators she and her partner repeatedly ordered Arredondo to drop the stick. When he refused and began threatening Lopez, the officer fired a single round from her 9mm pistol, said Officer Mike Schwear of the Central Detective Bureau.

A neighbor, however, said she saw Arredondo trying to return to his apartment when he was shot.

“He was running to his apartment because he didn’t want to deal with police,” said a 41-year-old woman who lives in the apartment building but did not want her name used. “When the officers yelled ‘stop,’ he just wanted to get away. He was afraid of the police.”

The apartment building had been the scene of several unruly disputes in recent months, another neighbor said.