Man Held in Fatal Shooting Over Theft of Scrap Metal

An employee of a Wilmington scrap metal shop has been booked on murder charges in the shooting death of a man who had loaded his pickup truck with stolen scrap metal, police said Saturday.

Richard Zacher, 43, whose family owns the scrap shop, was held without bail at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Parker Center Jail after the shooting, which occurred about 1 p.m. Friday, said Police Sgt. Dan Pugel of the department’s Harbor Division.

The circumstances leading to the shooting are under investigation, Pugel said. Zacher was booked on murder charges pending a review by the district attorney’s office, he said.

The victim, a man between 30 and 40 years old, died of a gunshot wound to the head, Pugel said. His name and exact age were not yet known.

Witnesses said Zacher and several unidentified employees had tried to prevent the victim from taking scrap from the property shortly before the shooting, Pugel said. The man tried to drive away in a truck, but Zacher climbed into the truck bed.

When the driver stopped the truck at 253rd Street and Vermont Avenue, Zacher jumped out and confronted him with a .38-caliber revolver, Pugel said. A shot was fired and the victim was struck in the head with a bullet.