Off-Duty Officer Kills Man in Lynwood

An off-duty Los Angeles police officer shot and killed a man in Lynwood on Wednesday who he believed was reaching for a gun, authorities said.

The man pulled a “shiny object” from his pocket that turned out not to be a gun but could have been used as a weapon, said Lt. Tom Martin of the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau. He would not elaborate.

The officer was eating lunch with a friend at Lucy’s Mexican Restaurant when a man approached and tried to sell him jewelry.

The officer said he was not interested, said Deputy Bruce Thomas. The peddler then sat next to the officer’s friend and tried to sell him the jewelry. The friend said his companion was a police officer and suggested he leave.

“This seemed to incense rather than dissuade the man, and he got up and got very aggressive,” Martin said.

The peddler then started to pull something out of a pocket.

“When he couldn’t get it, he tried to use his other hand to help get it out,” Martin said. “The officer saw something shiny and thinking it was a weapon, he fired in self-defense.”

The man later died at a hospital.