Shooting Suspect Killed by Police During Stakeout

A man who police say shot at sheriff’s deputies in Norwalk last week was killed in Orange on Thursday after he drew a gun as he tried to flee from officers.

The man, tentatively identified as Robert Arthur Vandervort, 34, was shot and killed by Anaheim police officers who were staking out an Orange apartment complex where an acquaintance of Vandervort’s lived, Orange Police Lt. Art Romo said.

Vandervort was suspected of shooting at Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in a Norwalk trailer park Saturday night.

“We have not identified him yet, but we believe he is the same suspect,” Romo said.

Officials were awaiting positive identification by fingerprints to be taken by Orange County’s sheriff-coroner’s office.

Anaheim police were at an Orange apartment complex in the 700 block of Adele Street when Vandervort and an unidentified companion pulled up about 4:30 p.m. and were immediately spotted, Romo said.

“When they reached the apartments, officers who recognized the suspect stopped him, and he pulled a handgun and then started to run,” Romo said. “He ran through the apartment complex, jumped a wooden fence, and eventually he was stopped by police [who] shot him in the frontyard of a home.”

The companion, who was not identified, was detained for questioning.

Police from at least four agencies were involved in monitoring three locations in Orange County where Vandervort had either friends or relatives. “For the last three days, different [police] departments have had locations in Anaheim, Fullerton and Orange under surveillance,” Romo said.

“As to who shot who, I do not know,” Romo said late Thursday. “Details are still sketchy. Whether the suspect shot at the officers is unknown.”

The incident alarmed residents of the quiet neighborhood. Many had been spending the warm summer afternoon lounging in lawn chairs outside their homes while children played in the streets.

Diana Thorson was at work when her daughter, Melody, 14, called her frantically to tell her about the incident, which happened in front of the family’s home.

“I was in my bedroom upstairs and I heard shooting, shots that went, ‘Pop-pop,’ ” Melody Thorson said. “When I looked out my bedroom window, I saw two cops and they had a man in the street, down. Then I heard some other shots.”

Some witnesses said they heard at least nine shots.

“I heard like seven or eight shots,” said Bill Spejcher, 31, who was inside his house with his young son, Garrett. “My son said he heard the shots too and that they sounded like firecrackers to him.”

Spejcher said he saw television helicopters overhead and then watched as the TV cameras caught images of the suspect’s body, which lay atop a wood pile and had been covered with a yellow tarp.

Vandervort, who was being sought in connection with a spousal abuse case, was pulled over by a sheriff’s deputy shortly before noon Saturday on San Antonio Drive in Norwalk, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesman said.

Instead of stopping, the suspect sped away on his motorcycle, leading the deputy on a chase along the Golden State Freeway.

Officers eventually found him at Norwalk Village, a trailer park on Rosecrans Avenue. When a deputy entered the park, the suspect fired at him. The deputy returned fire, but the man fled on foot and escaped in a car he took at gunpoint from a woman in the park.

The stolen vehicle was recovered in Orange County, police said.