A man suspected in an armed robbery was killed Thursday night in an altercation with Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies in West Hills, authorities said.
The shooting was reported around 8:40 p.m. at a Michaels store parking lot in the Fallbrook Center shopping mall.
LASD detectives were monitoring a man and woman who were believed to be connected to a series of armed robberies in the San Fernando Valley. While staking out the pair, deputies witnessed a robbery in progress outside the arts and crafts store, according to LASD.
Authorities said the man was fatally shot after deputies intervened in the robbery. The woman was later arrested after leading officers in a pursuit that ended near Agoura and Lewis Road.
Witnesses in the area said they heard several shots from what they described as an automatic weapon. A loaded semi-automatic handgun was recovered at the scene, the sheriff’s department said.
“At first we thought maybe it’s a car going by fast or whatever,” said Shawn Dadon, who was having dinner with his family. “And then it stopped for three to four seconds, and then another chain of like six to seven bullets again.”
The LASD says the pair are believed to be connected to a series of armed robberies in Calabasas and Thousand Oaks.
The string of crimes began with an armed robbery on the evening of Jan. 13 on Calabasas Road west of Valley Circle Boulevard, where a woman had her handbag taken at gunpoint, the LASD said. Two additional incidents were reported on Jan. 21, including a robbery at 7:40 p.m. at the Calabasas Commons near Calabasas Road and Park Granada, where a woman’s purse was stolen at gunpoint, and a robbery attempt around 9 p.m. near Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Lindero Canyon Road in Westlake Village, where it is unclear whether anything was taken.
NewsChopper4 was over the shopping center parking lot, which showed a heavy police presence. The Michaels storefront had multiple bullet holes in its windows.
A security guard who did not want to be identified said there were customers inside the Michaels store at the time of the shooting.
The identities of the robbery suspects were not immediately available.
