A person was shot and killed when he interrupted three individuals who have been making an attempt to take away a catalytic converter from a automobile in downtown Los Angeles early Saturday, police stated.
The person encountered the suspects round 3:25 a.m. close to Pico Boulevard and Hope Avenue, stated Officer Jader Chaves, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Division. Considered one of them shot him earlier than all three fled in a automobile, Chaves stated.
The sufferer, believed to be between 30 and 35, was taken to a neighborhood hospital and pronounced lifeless.
No further particulars have been instantly accessible.
The catalytic converter, an exhaust emission management gadget sometimes discovered within the undercarriage of a automobile, comprises valuable metals like rhodium, palladium and platinum. Thieves could make a whole lot of {dollars} promoting them to auto components suppliers or scrapyards, the place they are often melted down and the extremely invaluable metals extracted.
Thefts of catalytic converters skyrocketed in California in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, which some attributed to a rise in financial misery. The development prompted new state legal guidelines that make it unlawful for recyclers to purchase the half from anybody aside from the authorized proprietor or a licensed vendor and improve penalties for consumers who fail to certify {that a} catalytic converter wasn’t stolen.
Former Instances employees author Religion Pinho and Instances employees author Hannah Wiley contributed to this report.
