Security Guard Is Slain by SWAT Team After 4-Hour Standoff

A 44-year-old security guard, reportedly despondent after his wife and daughter left him, was shot and killed by a Los Angeles police SWAT team early Sunday after a four-hour standoff during which he fired multiple rounds from inside his rented duplex near Los Angeles International Airport.

The victim, identified by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office as Turk Ellington, was shot once when he left the back door of the dwelling and pointed a loaded semiautomatic pistol at members of the Special Weapons and Tactics Team shortly after 1 a.m., police said. He collapsed and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Detective Ron Karlson said in a statement that police negotiators had been in phone contact with Ellington, who was threatening to commit suicide.

An investigation by the LAPD’s officer-involved shooting team will be conducted.

Police and neighbors in the 5400 block of West 99th Place, just off Century Boulevard and east of the airport, said they heard gunshots coming from inside the wood-frame duplex where Ellington lived.

“He was shooting off randomly,” said Heather Fujikawa, who lives in the adjoining unit in the one-story duplex.

Fujikawa said she heard the first shot fired Saturday evening, not long after police arrived and Ellington told them to leave him alone.

“He was distraught. His wife left him,” she said. “I guess he wanted to commit suicide.”