Police shoot, kill 18-year-old Hispanic security guard on patrol at LA auto shop

Police shot and killed an 18-year-old Hispanic security guard who was on his regular patrol at a California auto repair shop Thursday night.

Andres Guardado, who has reportedly worked the job for some time, may not have been in uniform when Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies pulled up and drew their guns.

The shooting comes amid nationwide protests against police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s death, and the day after another deputy on the same force shot and killed the half-brother of a Black man found hanged from a tree last week.

Thursday’s shooting happened about 6 p.m. on Redondo Beach Boulevard, near South Figueroa Street, in the community of Gardena, according to the sheriff’s department.

There were no reports of the officers wearing body cameras.

“He was a great kid, he was always making jokes, smiling,” uncle Noe Abarca said, according to AP reporter Stefanie Dazio. “How many kids do we have like him? Not many.”

What happened

A spokesman said deputies saw Guardado wielding a handgun and then turn and flee, according to a report by KCAL 9, the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles.

“Deputies engaged in a short foot pursuit between the two businesses, at some point the deputies contacted the suspect and that’s when the deputy-involved shooting occurred,” the spokesman said.

The sheriff’s department later said a handgun was found near where Guardado was shot, but family members were disputing that claim, reports said.

Andrew Heney, the owner of the Freeway auto shop, told reporters: “We had a security guard that was out front, because we had just had certain issues with people tagging and stuff like that. And then the police came up, and they pulled their guns on him and he ran because he was scared, and they shot and killed him. He’s got a clean background and everything. There’s no reason.”

Officials could not immediately say how many officers opened fire.

An intense scene was caught on video by KCAL after the shooting, when distraught family members showed up and confronted several officers, demanding answers. Both sides were shown yelling and pointing at each other.

Second shooting in 2 days

In Wednesday’s deputy-involved shooting, L.A. sheriff's detectives saw Terron Jammal Boone driving and identified him as a suspect in a domestic assault and kidnapping, according to a report by NPR.

Boone’s 24-year-old half-sibling, Robert Fuller, was found hanged June 10 at a park near Palmdale City Hall, about 53 miles from San Bernardino County, where police found another Black man, Malcolm Harsch, 38, hanging from a tree May 31.

Police followed Boone’s vehicle and pulled him over about 4:30 p.m.

“The suspect opened the front passenger door of the vehicle and engaged the Deputies by firing multiple rounds at them with a handgun,” Deputy James Nagao said in a statement. “At that time, an Officer involved shooting occurred during which the suspect was struck several times in the upper torso,” the report said.