Deputy Kills Armed Man in Littlerock

In what began as a seemingly innocuous truck theft investigation, a sheriff’s deputy was confronted by a man with a shotgun in the desert Friday, briefly struggled with him and then fatally shot him, authorities said.

It was the second fatal shooting by a sheriff’s deputy in 24 hours.

The man killed in the Littlerock incident, whose identity was not released, pointed a 12-gauge shotgun at the deputy, who had just approached a camper parked near some Joshua trees in the remote desert south of Palmdale, said Deputy Bob Killeen.

The deputy spoke briefly with a woman beside the camper, and then the man approached with the shotgun, aiming it at the deputy’s head, authorities said.

The deputy, whose name was not released by the Sheriff’s Department, grabbed the gun barrel and after a short struggle, succeeded in pointing it away from his face.

Still holding the barrel of the struggling man’s shotgun, the deputy drew his pistol with his free hand and fired several shots at the man, killing him, Killeen said. The man was pronounced dead at the scene shortly before 1 p.m.

It was not immediately known whether the shotgun was loaded.

The deputy had previously taken a report of a stolen pickup truck from another man and followed the truck’s owner to the remote area, said Lt. Steven Fredericks of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lancaster station.

“He met the registered owner and followed him to the location,” Fredericks said. “Apparently the stolen truck was there,” near the camper, Fredericks said.

As a hot, dry wind blew across the desert, sheriff’s deputies questioned the woman and tried to learn more about the dead man, whose body could be seen on the ground near the camper late Friday afternoon, the shotgun still at his side.

An autopsy will be performed by the Los Angeles County coroner.

It is normal procedure for sheriff’s deputies to investigate vehicle thefts alone, especially since there was no reason to suspect foul play, said Deputy Elsa Avila.

In the other fatal shooting by a deputy, Robert Paiz, 39, of Rosemead, was shot late Thursday after he beat his wife, Maryann Paiz, threatened to kill his 1-year-old son and grabbed the gun of a sheriff’s deputy called to investigate, deputies said.

“The woman said that her husband was at the residence in violation of a domestic-violence restraining order, and that he was threatening to push their child, who was in a stroller, into traffic,” Deputy Debra Glafkides said.

Maryann Paiz, also of Rosemead, said her husband had been drinking all day and began beating her while they were outside, farther down the block. She escaped, ran into the house and slammed the door, leaving her son outside, she said. Her husband began yelling that he was going to kill the boy, so she called police.

When deputies arrived at the house, they found Robert Paiz standing in the frontyard with a child in one hand and the stroller in the other, authorities said. A deputy grabbed the infant and handed him to the mother, but Paiz then “lunged at the deputy, grabbing his gun,” Glafkides said.

The deputy struggled with Paiz, but was unable to subdue him or loosen his grip on the weapon, which was still in the holster, authorities said.

“The deputy’s partner then fired several times at the suspect, wounding him in the upper body,” Glafkides said. “The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.”

Maryann Paiz said she “heard [a deputy] say, ‘He’s got my gun. He’s got my gun.’ And then a popping sound.”

On Friday, a bruised Maryann Paiz stood with relatives on front porch steps that were stained with her husband’s blood. Some family members questioned the use of deadly force to stop the man.

But Maryann Paiz, who did not witness the shooting because she was inside the house with her son, said her husband was drunk, and whether the shooting was justified depends on her husband’s actions.

“If he didn’t have the gun, I don’t think it’s fair. If he had the gun, I think it would be justified,” she said.

“I loved my husband very much. I will love him to the day I die,” she said, collapsing into tears.

Sheriff’s officials declined to identify the deputies involved in the shooting. They said both will be assigned to desk work pending the outcome of an investigation.

Sheriff’s Department homicide detectives are handling the investigations of both shootings.