Guard in Traffic Dispute Shoots Driver : Violence: The unarmed Chatsworth man was shot in the chest by a county safety officer, who then fired three more rounds. The officer was questioned but not arrested.

A Chatsworth man remained hospitalized in serious condition Tuesday after he was shot by an off-duty Los Angeles County security guard during a traffic dispute.

Investigators said the county safety officer shot Fred Inouye, 25, who was unarmed, in the chest, then pursued Inouye and fired three more shots that missed. Inouye fled to a service station and called sheriff’s deputies.

The safety officer, whose name was not released, was questioned but not arrested after the incident, which occurred about 12:45 a.m. Monday in the 19500 block of Pacific Coast Highway in the Malibu area. He was being treated at UCLA Medical Center.

“If there had been information gathered that warranted arrest, our investigators would have done so,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Linnemeyer said Tuesday. “All our findings will be submitted to the district attorney’s office.”

County safety officers are armed guards who provide security at county facilities. Their uniforms resemble those worn by sheriff’s deputies. Linnemeyer said he did not know whether the safety officer was in uniform at the time of the incident or whether the gun he used in the shooting was his service weapon.

Linnemeyer said that after talking to the safety officer and to Michelle Chadkowski, 24, a passenger in Inouye’s car, investigators were able to piece together the following account:

Inouye was driving along Pacific Coast Highway when, for reasons as yet unclear, the guard’s truck, which was headed in the same direction, swerved suddenly in front of Inouye’s car.

Inouye pulled in front of the guard’s truck and slowed down before pulling to a stop in a left-turn lane in the center of the highway. The guard stopped behind Inouye’s car.

“Inouye gets out and walks to the driver’s door of the officer’s vehicle,” Linnemeyer said. “A verbal argument is carried on.

“Somehow, the officer arms himself and fires a round. . . The bullet strikes Inouye. He moves to the rear of the vehicle. The guard gets out and fires three more times. Misses. Inouye continues around the vehicle . . .

“His girlfriend slides over behind the wheel (of Inouye’s car), starts it up and makes a U-turn,” Linnemeyer said. “Inouye gets in and off they drive.”

Linnemeyer said the pair drove about a mile east on the highway to a service station at Topanga Canyon Boulevard, where a call was made to the Malibu sheriff’s station. Arriving deputies were directed to the scene of the shooting, where they found the security officer waiting. The 9-millimeter pistol believed used in the shooting was recovered at the scene.

Asked why the officer was not arrested, Linnemeyer responded that, while he knew no further details about the case, “there had to be information gathered by the investigators that would lead them not to make an arrest.”