For the second time in two weeks L.A. County Sheriff's Department deputies opened fire on LAPD turf along Venice Boulevard.

This time it happened on Venice near Cadillac Avenue and Kaiser's West L.A. Medical Center yesterday. Deputies from the sheriff's department Transit Services Bureau, those cops who patrol trains and buses, came across a homeless man:

Investigators say he went after them with a wooden stick, prompting at least one of the deputies in La Cienega Heights to open fire.

It happened about 3:48 p.m. Sunday, according to the department. News reports indicated the confrontation happened under a 10 freeway overpass on Venice Boulevard, where the belongings of homeless people were visibly being stored.


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Here's the heart of the sheriff's narrative:

The suspect suddenly armed himself with a wooden stick. He advanced toward the deputies with the wooden stick overhead. A deputy-involved shooting occurred and the suspect was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The department's initial report stated that “a weapon was recovered at the scene.”

The deputies were not hurt. The ID of the transient had yet to be revealed. Like all deputy-involved shootings, this one is under investigation.


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On Sept. 25 a deputy involved shooting happened just off Venice Boulevard, in the 1700 block of Burnside Ave., about a mile to the east of the Cadillac confrontation. A suspect allegedly pointed a black cellphone at cops, according to the department:

Deputies responded to a Burnside Avenue address in search of a felony suspect. The deputies observed a man who closely resembled the suspect and contacted him. The man reached into his waistband area and removed several objects, including narcotics, as well as a black object that he held in his hand.

Believing the man was arming himself, one of the deputies shot at him. The man ran to the rear of the residence and climbed over a wall. As the deputies followed, the man took a kneeling position facing the deputies with a black object still in his hand. Fearing that the man was about to shoot, both deputies fired their duty weapons at him.

He was hospitalized and survived.

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