Police Kill Broom-Wielding Youth : Pacoima: A gang member charges officers and yells ‘Shoot me!’ after assaulting his mother, officials say.

A Pacoima gang member swinging a broomstick charged a police officer Monday, yelling “Shoot me! Kill me!” until the officer opened fire, shooting him nine times before the 18-year-old fell dead, Los Angeles police said.

The 1 a.m. shooting at Borden Avenue and Weidner Street occurred moments after Efrin Santos Lopez had assaulted his mother and a neighbor, Police Lt. William Hall said.

Although Hall said that a broom wielded in a threatening manner could be considered a deadly weapon, the shooting by Officer Neil Goldberg, a four-year veteran, remains under investigation.

Hall said that Chief Willie L. Williams, anticipating that the shooting might be controversial, placed Goldberg on non-field duty pending the outcome of a departmental investigation that could take two months. In the past, officers involved in such shootings were usually returned to patrol duty several days later after psychiatric counseling.

“A broomstick is a little unusual,” said Hall, who is in charge of investigations involving shootings by officers. “The duty that the department has is to examine the incident in detail and try not to make too quick a conclusion.”

Among the details Hall said are unclear is whether Lopez was on drugs at the time of the shooting. His mother had told police he had apparently taken drugs and was acting “crazy,” Hall said, and police found a small bag near his body that they said might have contained crack cocaine.

Toxicological tests following an autopsy will determine if Lopez had ingested drugs, Hall said.

Although some residents in the neighborhood where the shooting took place questioned why gunfire was needed to subdue Lopez, a father and son who witnessed the shooting said that Goldberg, 30, and his partner, Dean Gizzi, 29, had done all they could to calm the participants and settle the situation without force before Goldberg opened fire.

“The officers did use reasonable force,” said Norman Early, in front of whose house the shooting occurred. Norman Early Jr., who also witnessed the shooting, agreed with his father.

“They tried everything possible,” the son said. “They did try to subdue the man. But he put the officer in the position that he had to pull his gun.”

Hall said the incident began when police were called to a house on nearby Eustace Street where the owner reported that a prowler had run through his back yard and climbed over a fence. After taking a report, the officers left but were immediately flagged down by Lopez’s mother, who lives a block away.

The woman, whose identity was not released, told police her son was acting strangely and may have taken drugs. “He was acting crazy, the mother was knocked down, her hair was pulled,” Hall said.

He said Lopez had also knocked over furniture in the house and broken the rear window of his mother’s car before finally leaving their house.

Meantime, Hall said, Goldberg and Gizzi were on routine patrol on nearby Borden Avenue when they passed Lopez, who was wearing only his underwear, a bloodied tank top and socks, and was carrying a household broom.

By the time the officers approached him, Lopez was on the front lawn of Early’s house, grappling with members of Early’s family. Members of the family did not know Lopez and could not explain why he confronted them, the Earlys said.

Gizzi and Goldberg emerged from their patrol car with their batons in hand, Hall said. They repeatedly ordered Lopez to drop the broom but he ran into the street. As the officers approached him there, he swung the broom back and forth by the brush end.

Hall said the officers took positions on either side of Lopez and when Gizzi attempted to move in to grab him, Lopez swung at him. Gizzi ducked below the swing. But Goldberg, feeling his partner was in danger of being struck, dropped his baton and pulled his gun. Lopez then turned toward Goldberg and rushed at him, Hall said.

“He came at him right away,” Hall said. “As Goldberg starts to back up, Lopez begins to swing aggressively. He’s saying, ‘Shoot me! Kill me!’--things of that nature.”

Goldberg, fearing that he was going to be struck in the head by the broomstick, opened fire as he backpedaled, Hall said. Lopez continued to come at him and Goldberg continued to fire as he retreated over a distance of 25 feet, Hall said.

Lopez was struck by all nine bullets fired by Goldberg, including several hits in the chest. Hall said that near Lopez’s body, police found a small plastic bag that was blood-soaked and contained a substance that appeared to be rock cocaine but had not yet been analyzed.

Police said Lopez was identified in records of the Foothill Division’s anti-gang unit as an active gang member, but Hall could not say whether Lopez had a criminal record.