Man Who Pointed Gun at Officers Is Shot to Death

Two police officers shot and killed a man who threatened them with a handgun in a Long Beach parking lot Tuesday afternoon, shortly after reports that the man exposed himself to passersby, a police spokeswoman said.

Officers were called to a shopping center in the 2300 block of East 7th Street about 1 p.m. to investigate a report of a naked man sitting in an open van, said Long Beach police spokeswoman Karen Kerr Owens.

The man, who police believe was in his 60s, was getting dressed when three officers arrived and he stepped out of his van clad only in shorts, Owens said. When police tried to arrest him, he reached into the van and grabbed a gun.

Officers repeatedly asked him to put the weapon down, but he refused and instead pointed it at them, Owens said. Two officers then fired their weapons.