Alleged Home Robber Is Slain

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies fatally shot a man Friday morning in Lancaster after he and two others allegedly carried out two bloody home-invasion robberies that sent two men to the hospital, authorities said.

Both robberies occurred just after midnight in a quiet residential neighborhood in southeast Lancaster.

About 12:40 a.m., a pair of deputies spotted two of the alleged robbers walking near 15th Street East and Avenue J-8.

As deputies were arresting them, the third man pulled up in a car, Sheriff’s Sgt. Joe Efflandt said. When the driver pulled out a gun, the two deputies opened fire, Efflandt said.

The Sheriff’s Department did not release the names of the deputies involved in the shooting.

The gunman, whose name was not released by authorities, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The two other men, who were arrested on suspicion of assault and robbery, are David Taylor, 19, of Palmdale, and a 17-year-old whose name was not released because he is a minor. They may also face additional charges, including attempted murder, said Deputy Richard Pena, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

The three suspects allegedly broke into the first home in the 43700 block of Yaffa Street intending to rob it. A male resident of the house was shot in the shoulder by at least one of the men, deputies said.

Less than 30 minutes later, the three men broke into a house in the 1200 block of Chagal Avenue, less than half a mile away, authorities said. Efflandt said a number of shots were fired inside the house during that robbery, but no one was initially hurt. However, a neighbor who heard the shots and confronted the men as they were leaving the house was shot several times, according to Efflandt.

Both shooting victims were taken to a local hospital and were expected to survive, officials said Friday.

The alleged robbers “were very brazen,” Efflandt said. “You would have thought they would have known they’d attracted attention to themselves after the first shooting.”