Probe Continues in Police Slaying of Fleeing Suspect

Police continued to search a Long Beach neighborhood Saturday for a weapon and other evidence in the wake of a robbery suspect’s fatal shooting by officers Friday night.

Long Beach search and rescue workers and dogs from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department were helping police comb a crime scene encompassing several blocks in the city’s northern section, the Long Beach Police Department said.

They were looking for a handgun or similar weapon that witnesses said they had seen in the possession of the fleeing suspect. That suspect, whose name was withheld pending identification by the coroner’s office, was killed about 8 p.m. Friday.

The incident began when officers went to a home in the 1200 block of Washington Street, where they suspected illegal drug activity. As officers tried to contact the home’s occupants, a man fled out a back window, police said. Officers said the man reached for his waistband, as if for a weapon. They ran after the man, whom they believed to be wanted for armed robbery, and caught up with him in a backyard in the 1300 block of East 56th Street.

Police said the man “confronted the officers” and, “fearing for their safety, the officers were forced to fire at the suspect,” mortally wounding him. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

The department provided no other details Saturday.