Suspended Football Star Killed in Robbery Attempt : Crime: Shawn Cole, who was dismissed Oct. 19 from the Glendale High team, is shot to death by an off-duty deputy he allegedly tried to rob.

Shawn Cole, a Glendale High School football star until he was dismissed from the team last month, tried to rob an off-duty sheriff’s deputy with a BB pistol Friday and was shot to death, Los Angeles police reported.

Cole, 17, the football team’s leading rusher before he was dropped from the squad for fighting, was killed by Deputy Robert Carr, who thought that the teen-ager’s air pistol was a real semiautomatic firearm, police said.

Two of Cole’s alleged accomplices, Ian B. Jerde, 19, and Andrew Wright, 18, also of the Glendale area, were arrested by Carr and could be charged with murder in connection with Cole’s death. A third young man was being sought Friday, detectives said.

Cole was a senior tailback on the Glendale High football team until he was suspended Oct. 19 because of a fight with another student, Principal Jim Gibson said. A week later Cole was transferred to Daily High School, a continuation school, because of poor grades and attendance, Gibson said.

Glendale High was preparing for its homecoming game against cross-town rival, Hoover High, when word arrived Friday of the death of Cole, who was still a popular figure on campus. The students observed a moment of silence in his honor at lunchtime, the principal said.

“Everybody has been pretty subdued,” Gibson said. “Word’s out about this and it’s very quiet. It hits first as a surprise. But Shawn had been having a tough life. He’d had his share of problems.”

A woman who answered the phone at Cole’s home declined to comment.

Despite being dropped from the team three weeks ago, Cole was still Glendale’s leading rusher for the season, with 540 yards and four touchdowns in 72 carries. He was carrying his Glendale High ID card in his wallet when he was fatally wounded, police said.

Police said Carr, 22, who has been a deputy for one year and works in the County Jail, had driven to Van Nuys to visit a friend shortly after 12:45 a.m. Friday. Carr, who was not wearing his uniform, told police he had just gotten out of his car in the 15000 block of Killion Street when he saw Cole step from behind a tree and walk toward him. As he approached, Cole pointed a weapon at Carr and demanded his money, police said.

Carr drew his service revolver and fired several times, striking Cole more than once in the chest, said Lt. Harvie Eubank. Cole died at Sherman Oaks Community Hospital.

Carr reportedly turned and saw another youth who had apparently come up behind him during the robbery attempt. Carr fired one shot, but the youth ran between two houses and escaped. Police said that youth has been identified by investigators but not arrested. They declined to release his name.

Moments after Cole was shot, Jerde and Wright drove up, police said. Carr held them at gunpoint until police arrived.

Eubank described the suspects and Cole as friends from the Glendale area. He said Jerde and Wright told investigators the foursome got together Thursday night and decided to commit a robbery.

“They said they needed money,” Eubank said. “They were in the Van Nuys area looking for a victim and pulled onto a side street. They saw the headlights of another car and decided to follow that car. It turned out to be an off-duty deputy sheriff.”

Jerde, a student at Glendale City College, and Wright, a student at Crescenta Valley High School, were arrested on suspicion of murder. Under California law, an accomplice in a crime can be charged with murder if his partner is killed while committing the crime.

They were being held without bail. Police said prosecutors will decide Monday whether to charge them.

Times staff writer Paige Leech contributed to this story.