Metro Police and crime scene analysts investigate an officer-involved shooting on Radwick Drive near East Owens Avenue and North Hollywood Boulevard Thursday, June 14, 2018.
Saturday, June 16, 2018 | 12:49 p.m.
Seven Metro Police officers opened fire on an armed robbery suspect who accelerated a stolen SUV toward them Thursday morning after being spotted sleeping behind the wheel in an east valley neighborhood, according to police.
Metro today identified the officers as: Jeremiah Beason, 37; Anthony Gariano, 24; Jordan Anderson, 32; Frank Rycraft, 42; Robert Stephenson, 36; Joseph Aguilos, 31, and Officer Craig McIntosh, 42. They were placed on routine paid leave while the investigation is ongoing, police said.
The shooting occurred about 4 a.m. near Radwick Drive and Owens Avenue, police said. The suspect, who was killed, and his associates had been robbing and carjacking people in that part of town, police said.
Officers spotted a Dodge Durango that had been carjacked by several suspects, one of whom was armed with an AR-15-style rifle, police said. That vehicle was used in at least three robberies, police said.
When officers approached the vehicle, they found the suspect sleeping on the driver’s side with a rifle next to him, so they backed off and waited for reinforcements, placing tire-deflation spikes in front the SUV, police said.
At some point, the suspect woke up, made a U-turn and accelerated toward officers that were posted behind the SUV, police said. That’s when they opened fire, fatally striking him. The man also crashed into a Metro vehicle.
A day before the shooting, two of the man’s associates were arrested after wounding a victim in an attempted robbery, police said.
More details are expected early next week.
