Shooting at Palladium Brings Calls for Uniformed Officers

The fatal shooting of a man outside the Hollywood Palladium prompted calls Sunday for a change in city regulations to allow private auditoriums to hire uniformed police officers to perform security patrols.

A Los Angeles police officer called to the scene early Sunday shot the unidentified man after he allegedly threatened a couple there with a nail gun, then pointed it at the policeman.

Later in the day, both the Palladium’s president and the head of a community association--long critical of Palladium policies--called for the presence of off-duty police when the facility is open.

Palladium executive Alan Shuman and Joe Shea of the Ivar Hill Community Assn. said they would go together to City Hall this week to lobby for the change.

At present, only public facilities such as the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum are allowed to pay police to patrol in uniform during their events. Off-duty officers may be hired by private firms, but they must appear in plainclothes.

Authorities released few details of Sunday’s incident, which occurred at 2:15 a.m. as the man with the cartridge-powered nail gun apparently was waiting for, then confronted a man and woman leaving the auditorium.

The officer, identified only as C. Bustamante, shot the man in the stomach after he refused an order to drop the weapon and aimed it at Bustamante, a police spokesman said. The identity of the man, who was pronounced dead shortly thereafter, was being withheld Sunday pending notification of relatives.

Last year, after a dispute between Palladium management and community residents, the Los Angeles City Council imposed an early curfew around the Palladium, but later agreed to lift it on condition that the auditorium hire additional private security.

Shuman said Sunday that the security has helped, and that there have been only two violent incidents in the immediate vicinity of the auditorium in the last 10 months. But he said regular police patrols--for which he is willing to pay--would be even better.

Homeowner activist Shea, who held a news conference Sunday to call for increased security, said he recognized that crime is a societal problem beyond the control of the Palladium. There were two other shootings Saturday night in Hollywood alone, he noted.

But Shea complained that the auditorium changed private security firms this weekend, and said the new security was not as good.

Shuman, who joined in the news conference, said there was little security officers could do about the man shot by police because he was not a Palladium patron, but had been waiting outside--apparently for the couple to emerge.

“This was a domestic dispute,” Shuman said, “All this happened in 30 to 40 seconds. . . . We changed security units because this unit was more used to handling adult events. . . . But I want to hire uniformed police officers to patrol both inside and outside.”

Shuman and Shea quickly agreed to go to City Hall to confer with the area’s council member, Jackie Goldberg, and seek her support for changing the rules on hiring regular police.

Shea said he had complained to police earlier in the evening about having been beaten over the head by several gang members on Hollywood Boulevard.

He said he and his neighbors are fed up with Hollywood’s crime problems, but want to work with the Palladium’s management and do not favor shutting the auditorium down as long as adequate security can be implemented.