Officers Fatally Shoot Man

By Lookout Staff

September 4 -- A man police said was armed with a handgun was fatally shot by officers after a foot pursuit shortly after midnight Monday.

The incident took place at 12:11 a.m., when police responded to reports of a large fight on the 2000 block of Wilshire Boulevard.

Once they arrived at the scene, officers were told that a man at the location was armed with a handgun, said Lt. Frank Fabrega, the police department spokesman. Officers tried to detain the subject, but he fled on foot.

“While officers chased the suspect… (he) began to turn toward the officers and the officers could see that he was holding a handgun in his hand,” Fabrega said.

“Officers fearing for their safety shot the suspect,” he said.

After the shooting, Santa Monica Fire Paramedics arrived and pronounced the subject dead at the scene, police said. A handgun was located near the suspect.

The suspect’s identity has not been released pending notification of next of kin, said officials at the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office. Santa Monica police identified the suspect as a resident of Los Angeles.

KNBC-TV, however, identified the suspect as Christopher Hunter and said they had contacted his mother.

The station also reported that a witness said the man was unarmed.

“I did not see him point any kind of weapon at the police at all,” witness Gino Carbajal told the station.

The incident could be the third fatal police shooting in Los Angeles County during the Labor Day weekend.

On Sunday evening, a man was shot and killed by police in South Los Angeles during a struggle after he ran from a stolen vehicle, according to Los Angeles police.

Earlier on Sunday, Pasadena police officers, responding to a call of shots fired from a vehicle, found a man firing a gun and fired at the suspect, 23-year-old Walter Villanueva of Altadena, who drove away.

After following the vehicle, officers found a passenger, Erica Hindman of Pasadena, dead or dying from a gunshot. Authorities are investigating whether she was killed by a shot fired by the police officer or by the suspect.

An independent investigation into the Santa Monica shooting will be conducted by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Anyone having any information regarding this incident is encouraged to call the Santa Monica Police Department Robbery Homicide Unit at 310-458-8426.