Suspect Dies In Struggle with Police

Los Angeles: A 21-year-old man was shot yesterday evening, July 19, 2005, after he pulled a gun on police, while officers were trying to arrest him. 
Officers assigned to a joint task force of LAPD officers and Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agents converged on an apartment in the 2200 block of Las Colinas Avenue in Eagle Rock just before 8 PM.  They were looking for Luis Flores, who was wanted on a federal felony weapons warrant.
They saw him standing in a hallway on the second floor with Flores’ 16-year-old brother.  When four officers approached, which included one ATF special agent, Flores and his brother resisted, and a fight broke out.  During the struggle, Flores pulled out a gun, and Officer Mario Rojas, 34,  fired one time, striking Flores.
Flores later died at Huntington Memorial Medical Center.
Officer Rojas has 9 years with LAPD and is assigned to Rampart Area.
None of the others nor Flores’ brother were injured.  The brother was booked on a charge of interfering with an official police investigation.
The Force Investigation Division of the LAPD will investigate the circumstances of the shooting.  Representatives from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and the Police Commission’s Inspector General were at the scene to monitor the investigation.
Anyone with information on this incident is asked to call 1-877-LAWFULL (529-3855).