Man fatally shot by LAPD in Pacoima after car pursuit, crash

Los Angeles police fatally shot a man in Pacoima on Monday morning after he allegedly fled from a traffic stop, crashed his vehicle and then exited it holding a handgun, police said.

Lt. Raul Jovel, an LAPD spokesman, said Mission Division patrol officers reported seeing the man “driving recklessly” near Osborne Street and Laurel Canyon Boulevard about 10 a.m., tried to stop him and then gave chase when he sped off.

After entering the 5 Freeway, the man took an exit at Terra Bella Street, where he “spins out and loses control of his car,” Jovel said.

Jovel said the man then exited his car with a handgun and was shot by at least one officer. Jovel said the man was transported to a hospital with serious injuries and pronounced dead there.

No officers were injured. A handgun was recovered at the scene, police said.

Jovel said officials were still trying to identify the man as of Monday afternoon. As with all police shootings, the incident will be reviewed by force investigators and come before the Police Commission for review.

Before Monday’s shooting, there had been 17 LAPD shootings in 2021, six of them fatal and three in which no one was hit. At the same time last year, there had been 16 LAPD shootings, five of them fatal. The LAPD ended 2019 and 2020 at 30-year lows in police shootings.