L.A. homicide suspect fatally shot on freeway by law enforcement

A man wanted on suspicion of killing one family member and wounding two others in a shooting this weekend in Los Angeles was fatally shot by police Tuesday morning on the side of a freeway, according to law enforcement officials.

Details from the encounter on the 105 Freeway in Paramount remained unclear late Tuesday, despite the fact that the incident drew responses from at least three law enforcement agencies.

The California Highway Patrol — which took the lead in investigating the shooting — on Tuesday evening issued a brief statement with few details, saying that a man who was allegedly wanted for homicide had been shot by police.

The CHP did not identify the man and would not say how many officers had opened fire, or if any CHP officers had done so. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said at least one of its deputies opened fire, but a spokeswoman said she didn’t know if that deputy was alone in shooting.

The Los Angeles Police Department identified the man who was shot as Jesse Medrano, 35, and said he was the suspect in a triple shooting Sunday in Green Meadows in which one man was killed and a man and a woman were seriously injured.

The LAPD said all three victims were related to Medrano and that the shooting was the result of a family dispute. The department would not specify how the parties were related. The LAPD identified the man who died in that shooting as Ruben Marrufo, 61, and those injured as a 51-year-old man, who was in grave condition Tuesday, and a 50-year-old woman, who was in critical condition.

The LAPD alleged Medrano carjacked a vehicle after shooting his relatives; the department on Monday described him as “armed and dangerous.”

The CHP said its L.A. communications center received a report shortly before 7 a.m. Tuesday of a disabled vehicle on the side of the westbound 105 Freeway, near the exit for the 710 Freeway in Lynwood, and that a responding officer determined that the vehicle was possibly stolen and that the man inside, allegedly Medrano, was wanted.

CHP officers from multiple areas and L.A. County sheriff’s deputies went to the scene “to assist,” and the shooting occurred after Medrano stepped out of the vehicle, the CHP said.

Images from the scene captured by a Fox 11 helicopter appeared to show a man with a gun standing on the side of the road opposite a cluster of police vehicles that officers were using for cover.

The CHP did not say whether Medrano was armed or if he had exchanged gunfire with police. It also did not say whether any officers were injured in the incident.

Medrano was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

The freeway was closed for much of Tuesday in the area where the shooting occurred amid an investigation.