Officers Kill Man Who Opens Fire in Station : Shooting: A Carson deputy sheriff is in stable condition after being shot by a gunman in the lobby. Investigators begin search for motive.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies shot to death a gunman who walked into their Carson station Saturday night and, without saying a word, opened fire at a deputy, a sheriff’s spokesman said.

Deputy Sheriff Robert Frank, 25, was in stable condition Sunday after undergoing surgery on both his arms at Arcadia Methodist Hospital, spokesman Rich Erickson said.

Erickson identified the dead gunman as Robert Almeida, 25, of Carson. He said there was no known motive in the incident, which began when Almeida entered the lobby of the Carson station on South Avalon Boulevard at about 10:30 p.m., approached the public counter--at which Frank was seated--and began firing a .38-caliber handgun.

One of the bullets went through one of Frank’s arms, then lodged in the other, Erickson said.

After hearing the shots, three deputies inside the station promptly returned fire, hitting Almeida in the upper body, Erickson said. The gunman died in the lobby soon after.

Officials of the Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles Police Department could not recall a similar shooting incident at their stations.

“It’s pretty stupid. It’s absolutely an act of suicide,” said Los Angeles Police Officer Lorie Taylor, who has been on the force for six years. “Everybody in a sheriff’s or police station is armed with guns. I’ve never heard of anything like this happening while I’ve been here.”

Erickson said investigators knew little about Almeida and were trying to find out what might have motivated him.

In addition to Almeida and Frank, several private citizens were in the lobby at he time of the shootout, but none were wounded, Erickson said.

Frank was alone at the counter, he said.