Man Killed by Guard at Santa Ana Towing Yard : Shooting: The victim apparently was reaching for what turned out to be a BB gun when he was shot four times, police say.

A security guard at a towing company fatally shot a 24-year-old mechanic who reportedly appeared to be reaching for a gun, police said Monday.

Scott Douglas Forsyth, of Norco, was shot at 5:45 p.m. Sunday in a storage garage adjoining the International City Towing Co. in the 1300 block of East Wilshire Avenue, according to Santa Ana police Lt. Dave Petko.

“A preliminary investigation reveals that the mechanic may have been reaching for a gun when he was shot,” Petko said. Investigators later determined the weapon was a BB gun.

However, the California West Patrol security guard, 28-year-old Benjamin Echeverria, also of Norco, was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and was being held at the Santa Ana city detention facility on $25,000 bond, according to Lt. Robert Helton.

“The investigators are not in a position to say it was a self-defense situation,” Helton said. “They are still looking at this issue. That’s why they arrested him on manslaughter. There is nothing there that indicates willful homicide, but they did arrest him.”

The towing company, which also operates as a private impound lot for cars, trucks and boats, was closed Sunday. Situated in an industrial park, it is fenced and has a security-controlled entrance, including a video camera. Company officials declined to comment on the shooting.

Calls to the Tustin-based security company were not returned.

Helton said that California West had an arrangement with the towing company that allowed the security firm to park one or two vehicles inside the gates of the facility. Guards then drove through the gates to pick up their patrol cars.

Echeverria told police he and Forsyth were alone in the business when the incident occurred, Helton said.

According to Echeverria, Forsyth “was standing beside one of those large, roll-around tool boxes (and) reached up on top of the box, grabbed or started to grab what appeared to him to be a semi-automatic handgun,” Helton said.

“The security guard, in turn, drew his weapon, firing at least four rounds, all of which struck the mechanic,” Helton said. “As it turned out, (Forsyth’s) gun was a BB gun that, according to investigators, could easily have been mistaken for a .45-caliber handgun.”

Helton said Echeverria was at the towing company when police arrived and may have called for them through the company’s dispatcher. Forsyth was pronounced dead at the scene.

The two men knew each other from seeing each other at the premises but had no other relationship that police were aware of, Helton said.

Investigators will probably present their evidence to the district attorney’s office today, Helton said. An autopsy was performed Monday.