Gunman Is Shot Dead by Police at Gardena Casino

Los Angeles police officers fatally shot a carjacking suspect inside the Hustler Casino in Gardena early Friday after a pursuit that ended with the armed man running into the card parlor and taking two hostages, department officials said.

No officers or patrons were hurt in the Christmas Eve incident that left hundreds of gamblers sprinting out exits or cowering behind the phalanx of blackjack and poker tables.

Police said they were investigating two shootings as part of the incident at the card club in the 1000 block of West Redondo Beach Boulevard. One involved LAPD officers on the casino floor, and the other involved shots fired by security guards who confronted the gunman at the front entrance.

LAPD spokesman Jack Richter said the gunman took a woman hostage at gunpoint and moments later threatened a man on the casino floor. But hundreds of others were effectively held against their will.

“They were frozen in terror and trying to shield themselves from harm,” Richter said. “The officers confronted the man as he was holding the jacket of a male hostage and brandishing his gun.”

Police identified the gunman as Troy Lund, 24, who they said was wanted for bank robbery in Iowa.

Officials said it was not immediately clear if the gunman fired his weapon at officers or card club patrons. Detectives recovered a handgun that they did not immediately identify. The suspect was taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where he died of his wounds Friday night, police officials said.

The incident began shortly before 4 a.m. when Harbor Division officers spotted an older-model Jaguar sedan that had been reported stolen in a carjacking Thursday at 238th Street and Western Avenue.

The officers tried to pull over the car, authorities said. But the suspect fled, leading officers on a half-hour car chase that ended when the suspect crashed into the front entrance of the card club, Richter said.

“He bailed out of the vehicle as it was moving,” Richter said.

The man entered the casino and took a woman hostage, but security guards opened fire on him almost immediately and he released the woman, officials said.

The man then ran onto the casino floor with about half a dozen LAPD officers trailing him. He walked around the floor brandishing his weapon. When he took the second hostage, officers shot him, police said.

As with all officer-involved shootings, the LAPD is conducting separate criminal and administrative investigations into Friday’s shooting.

The incident occurred a little more than a month after Los Angeles police fatally shot a man threatening to kill a pregnant employee of the Mexican Consulate. The man had dragged the woman outside the consulate, demanding that employees call the media. He was killed by a police sergeant from the Rampart Division who was once assigned to the LAPD’s SWAT unit.