A man shot by Los Angeles Police Department officers in Koreatown on Saturday was found to be carrying an airsoft rifle and a pistol-shaped lighter, not real firearms, according to a police statement on Tuesday.
Officers responded to reports of a man with a gun at a convenience store in the 3400 block of West 6th Street around 8:15 p.m., the LAPD said. The man, identified as 35-year-old Taylor Dean Sanders, left the scene before the police arrived but was located about an hour later on a sidewalk near Wilshire Boulevard and Kenmore Avenue.
According to the police, Sanders pointed his rifle at the officers three times, resulting in them opening fire on him, wounding him. The officers also deployed less-lethal 40mm rounds and bean-bag shotguns.
Initially, it was reported that Sanders had opened fire with an assault rifle, but it was later clarified that he merely pointed the gun at the officers. Sanders eventually barricaded himself in an open-air stairwell of a parking lot, leading to a standoff before he surrendered.
Following his arrest, it was determined that Sanders was in possession of “two replica firearms,” specifically, a black airsoft rifle and a “black and orange butane lighter in the appearance of a small pistol.”
Sanders was taken to the California Hospital Medical Center, where he is now in stable condition. No police officers were injured during the incident. He was booked for brandishing an imitation firearm and is being held at Men’s Central Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail, with a court appearance scheduled for Tuesday.
The incident underscores the complexities and challenges law enforcement faces when responding to perceived threats, especially when distinguishing between real and imitation firearms.