Off-Duty Officer Kills Man in West Hollywood

An off-duty Los Angeles police officer shot and killed a man who allegedly attempted to rob him in a deserted West Hollywood parking lot early Monday morning, authorities said.

Officer Edward Stepanian, a four-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, fired his weapon five times at one of two men who approached his parked vehicle in a smaller car just before 4 a.m. in the 1300 block of Crescent Heights Boulevard, authorities said.

Stepanian, assigned to the Hollywood Division, had left work at 3:15 a.m., officials said. The officer was unhurt in the shooting, and the second suspect was caught shortly after he fled, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Richard Pena.

One of the men brandished a “metallic weapon,” which was found at the scene, Pena said.

“We don’t know why he pulled into the parking lot in the first place,” he said. “Right now it looks like straight self-defense.”

The shooting victim died at the scene, officials said. Police did not say how many times he was shot.

His name was not released pending notification of his family, said Sheriff’s Capt. Paul Patterson.

Some residents of neighboring apartment buildings were awakened by the gunfire. Dispatchers for 911 received nine calls.

Some residents reported hearing shots and then seeing a distraught man pacing around two cars in the parking lot, which is owned by the Iranian Jewish American Federation and a synagogue across the street.

Matt McLaughlin, whose apartment overlooks the lot, called 911 twice as he watched Stepanian.

“We didn’t know if he was a bad guy or good guy or what. I didn’t want him to get away,” he said. “I would have never thought that he was a police officer.”

Other witnesses told police they saw Stepanian and the two suspects talking before the shots were fired.

Alonzo Markham, arriving to visit a friend at a neighboring building, said he saw three men near two cars, cursing at one another.

He said he did not hear gunfire because his car stereo was too loud.

Leann Emmert said the distraught officer talked to some residents on the sidewalk while waiting for police to arrive.

He told a few that the suspects’ car had been following him, Emmert said.

Investigators were still questioning Stepanian and the apprehended suspect Monday afternoon, Pena said. Los Angeles police officials declined to release information about Stepanian’s record.