No Marijuana Found After Deputies Killed Man in Raid

No marijuana was found at a 200-acre Ventura County ranch where Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed a man as they and officers from other agencies attempted to serve a search warrant for drugs, officials said Saturday.

Donald P. Scott, 61, was struck twice in the upper body about 8:40 p.m. Friday when two deputies opened fire as he confronted them with a .38-caliber revolver, Deputy Benita Hinojos said.

Also involved in the raid were officers from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, the National Park Service and canine handlers from the Los Angeles Police Department, she said.

Investigators said they pried the house’s front door open after Scott and his wife, Frances Plante, 37, refused to let them in. They said that as they entered, they saw Scott, pointing a revolver at the ceiling, leave a bedroom and go into the living room. Two deputies opened fire after Scott ignored demands that he drop the weapon and pointed the gun at them, Hinojos said.

The investigators believed that marijuana was growing in a brushy area surrounding Scott’s house, just off Mulholland Highway in Ventura County at the Los Angeles County line, Hinojos said. But no such plants were found during a search of the ranch, whose driveway begins in Los Angeles County, she said.

The Ventura County district attorney’s office is investigating the shooting, authorities said.