Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies shoot masked man wielding BB gun
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a shooting involving two of its undercover deputies who officials say opened fire on a masked man carrying a BB gun who tried to rob them in Lancaster.
Authorities said in a statement that the two undercover officers were sitting in a car doing surveillance as part of a robbery investigation when a man approached the driver’s-side door, holding what looked like a 9-mm handgun and wearing a “makeshift mask” that covered the lower half of his face.
“Fearing for their lives, the deputies fired their weapons at the suspect from within the car, striking the suspect several times,” the sheriff’s department said. “We believe the suspect intended to rob our deputies.”
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The man was wounded and ran off. Deputies found him less than half a mile away in the front yard of a home in the 45000 block of Kingtree Avenue. He was taken to the hospital, officials said.
The weapon turned out to be a BB gun.
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