Officers Shoot, Kill 2 Armed Men in Separate Incidents
Two men were shot and killed by police in separate incidents early Saturday after they allegedly pointed guns at officers.
The first shooting happened at 2:05 a.m. at the corner of Spence Street and Whittier Boulevard near East Los Angeles, after Los Angeles police saw a driver identified as Miguel Sandoval hit another car, then fire several shots at it.
When the officers ordered Sandoval to drop his gun, he pointed it at them, prompting Officer Marcos Perez to fire nine rounds at him, said Detective J. Lewis. Sandoval died at Los Angeles Doctors Hospital, Lewis said.
The second shooting occurred at 2:46 a.m. in Torrance as two men tried to rob the Denny’s restaurant near 182nd Street and Crenshaw Boulevard.
When one robber pointed a gun at the cashier’s head, two off-duty Compton police officers stood and identified themselves as police, said Sgt. Mark Wittenberg.
The gunman pointed his weapon at the officers and one of them fired his own gun, hitting the suspect several times. He was pronounced dead at Harbor General Hospital. The second suspect, William Lyvell Hensbrough, 18, was arrested by Torrance police on suspicion of murder, robbery and violating parole, Wittenberg said.
Police declined to identify the off-duty officers.
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