Man Is Fatally Shot by Off-Duty Officer

An off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer shot and killed a man outside a Sierra Madre sports bar Thursday after an altercation involving several customers, authorities said.

The victim, a 34-year-old South Pasadena man, died at Arcadia Methodist Hospital, authorities said. The name of the victim has not been released.

No action has been taken against the officer, Isaac Lowe, 27, a five-year department veteran, pending an investigation by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, an LAPD spokesman said.

Lowe and three other men had been arguing inside the Tailgators bar at 322 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. about 1:30 a.m., and had continued the argument outside when the shooting occurred, Sheriff’s Deputy David Cervantes said.

A second man was arrested at the scene, officials said. The Sheriff’s Department would not release his name or say what charge he was booked on. The third man involved in the dispute fled and was being sought by police.

Nearby residents reported hearing four to eight gunshots.

Sierra Madre Police Chief Wayne Bailey said he had heard “many different stories” about the chain of events but declined to elaborate. “All I know is that there was an altercation and that both parties had guns.”

Lowe could not be reached for comment.

The foothill city, with a population of 10,000, had not had a shooting since 1996, and had not had a fatal shooting since 1988, according to the Sierra Madre Police Department.

FBI statistics indicate the city has been one of the three safest in Southern California in recent years, Mayor Doug Hayes said.

“To go 14 years without a fatal shooting is probably some kind of miracle,” he said. Tailgators is owned by a former L.A. police officer and is frequented by off-duty and former officers, Hayes said.

Mike Delgatto, owner of a dry-cleaning business two doors from the bar, said he was “surprised that this would happen here, because I thought everyone knew that the owner is a former LAPD officer.”

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Times staff writers Scott Glover and Matt Lait contributed to this report.