Officer Fatally Shoots Man During Search

A police officer searching several men outside a Pacoima bar on Monday shot and killed a man the officer mistakenly thought was pulling a gun from his waistband, authorities said. The dead man--whose identity was not released--was actually pulling out a hammer.

Officer Guillermo Rosales, 37, and his partner, Alan Thompson, 24, were patrolling behind the El Patio nightclub on San Fernando Road because of recent robberies in the area, said Los Angeles Police Sgt. E. J. Pellegrino.

Rosales and Thompson saw seven men drinking in a parking area behind the bar and searched them for weapons, Pellegrino said.

One of the men took his hands off the wall, reached down the front of his pants and began to remove a chrome object, Pellegrino said. Rosales ordered the man to freeze, but he continued withdrawing the object, Pellegrino said. Believing that he was about to be shot, Rosales fired once, Pellegrino said.