Man, 80, Dies in Shootout With Officer
An 80-year-old El Segundo man died in an exchange of gunfire with a local police officer Saturday morning, authorities said.
Answering a 911 call at 8:45 a.m., the officer found a lone man walking across his driveway in the 600 block of West Sycamore Avenue. The man had a gun in one hand and a sack in another, said Sgt. Norine Plett of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
When the officer instructed the man to drop the weapon, he walked along the side of his house and then turned with a gun in each hand. When the man again ignored instructions to drop the weapons, he and the officer fired at each other, Plett said.
The man, identified by El Segundo police as Verlan Franks, was hit and pronounced dead at the scene. The officer was not injured.
The policeman has been put on temporary leave while the sheriff’s department investigates.
Plett said relatives of Franks told authorities that he had spoken of suicide since the death of his wife several years ago.
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