Man Suspected in 2 Shootings Killed by Police

Police fatally shot a man suspected of gunning down two men on a street in Palms, authorities said Sunday.

The gunman, identified by coroner’s officials as Alfred Bond, 52, had recently been fired from a stereo store near the scene of the shooting Saturday in the 8800 block of Exposition Boulevard on the Westside, detectives said.

However, officials at Freeway Custom Stereo Store, about a half block away on Venice Boulevard, said Bond was an unstable person who frequented the shop but had never been an employee.

Bond, armed with two revolvers, approached two men and started shooting at about 6 p.m. Saturday, Los Angeles Police Detective Mike Schneider said.

“They were just apparently innocent people” with no prior connection to the gunman, Schneider said.

One of the men was killed. His identity was withheld. The other, identified as Jose Vega, 38, was wounded and taken to Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, where a spokeswoman said he was in stable condition.

After the shootings, the gunman ran to the stereo store in the 8900 block of Venice Boulevard. Los Angeles police officers confronted him outside the store.

“The suspect pointed one of his revolvers at the officers, at which time the officer-involved shooting occurred,” Schneider said. “The suspect sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.”

One of the store’s owners, Steve Goldstein, said Bond had frequently stopped by the shop asking for odd jobs. “We kept trying to throw him out,” Goldstein said. Goldstein said he had told Bond “to get the hell off the property” a week before the shooting.

When police started shooting, about 25 people, including Goldstein, were in the store or its outdoor installation area, he said.

“Bullets were flying all over the place and we didn’t know what was going on,” he said.

No one inside the store was injured, but Goldstein said two bullets hit one of his cars.

“I think they did the right job,” Goldstein said of the police action. He said he was shaken that officers did not warn those inside the store and on the lot to take cover.

“When you have a lot of people around you (should) scream some kind of warning, like ‘Hit the floor!’ ” Goldstein said. “They didn’t. Nobody said anything.”

Police spokesmen said they could not comment on Goldstein’s complaint.

Schneider said no officers were injured.