LAPD bodycam shows officer shooting through windshield at man who pointed a gun shaped lighter at them
By: -----
The police response to a call regarding a "man with a gun" led officers to shoot at a suspect in Hollywood last week. They later recovered from the scene not a firearm, but a lighter designed to look like a pistol, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Officers responded to the radio call regarding a "man with a gun" near the city's Hollywood Pool, on Cole Avenue near Santa Monica Boulevard, at around 5 p.m. Thursday. When police arrived, they located the suspect walking on the sidewalk adjacent to the pool with an item in his waistband, police said in a release.
Officers issued verbal commands to the suspect, later identified as Darrel Morgan, which he ignored and fled the area on foot. Police briefly lost sight of Morgan, tracked him with the help of a helicopter and located him near Vine Street and La Mirada Avenue, police said.
"Officers attempted to make contact with Morgan as he crossed to the east side of Vine Street. Morgan was holding an object resembling a small handgun," reads the release. "Morgan appeared to point the object at responding officers," prompting police to shoot at him.
Morgan was not struck by the gunfire and fled one block north on Vine Street before being apprehended "without further incident," police said.
Police recovered a small gold and dark metallic colored lighter designed to look like a Luger pistol near where Morgan was apprehended, police said.