COMPTON : Police Officers Kill Suspected Auto Burglar
At least three Compton police officers shot and killed a suspected auto burglar after they mistook an object in his hand for a gun, authorities reported Thursday.
Lt. Joe Flores said the officers felt threatened when the suspect, a 29-year-old Paramount man sitting inside a van in the 800 block of West 127th Place, pointed a shiny metal object at them around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The man ignored the officers’ orders to drop the object, Flores said. Police would not say how many officers responded to the call about an auto burglary or how many times the man was shot. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The object police mistook for a weapon appears to be a handle to a pot, chrome-plated on the front and black on the back, Flores said. The owner of the van and the man who was shot did not know each other, Flores said. Police would not release the identities of the dead man or the officers involved.
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