AZUSA — A police officer shot and killed a man authorities said reached for his waistband while fleeing following a failed robber at a 24-hour adult business early Sunday.
The name of the dead man was not released Monday pending positive identification and notification of his family, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Lt. Joe Bale said. He was initially described as a Latino man in his early 20s.
An Azusa police officer was on patrol shortly after 12:30 a.m. when he was flagged down by an employee and a customer of Red Panty’s Lingerie on Citrus Avenue, just south of Gladstone Street, who told him the business had just been robbed and pointed out the suspect, according to Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials.
The Azusa officer tried to attempt the suspect at gunpoint, but he fled across Citrus Avenue, the sheriff’s department said in a written statement issued Monday afternoon.
“The officer followed the suspect and saw the suspect reached into his waistband,” according to the sheriff’s department statement. “The officer fired, striking the suspect once in the upper torso.”
The wounded suspect died at an area hospital, investigators said. The officer was not injured.
During the robbery attempt, the suspect allegedly motioned as if he had a weapon and demanded cash, but fled empty-handed when he spotted the approaching patrol car.
Authorities did not say whether a weapon was found at the scene, and the involved officer was not identified.
Azusa police declined to comment, deferring all comments to the sheriff’s department, which is assisting in the investigation. Handling detectives at the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau could not be reached for comment.