LAPD Officers Shoot And Kill Man With A Gun In Studio City

LAPD officers shot and killed a man with a gun in Studio City this afternoon and also deployed a bomb squad robot to detonate two suspicious devices on his body.

Officers were called to the intersection of Ventura Boulevard and Vantage Avenue around 3:20 p.m. after reports of a man with a gun. Witnesses say the man was firing his gun into the air, and ignored commands from the responding officers to drop his weapon. "He was just firing into the air," Verta Keshishyan told KTLA. "Police showed up, and they told him to drop his weapon."

"He wasn't listening."

"I heard about three to four gunshots," Michael Ruiz told CBS 2. "I thought they were firecrackers or something and I saw a bunch of people running and I saw a police officer pointing his gun out and just got pretty scared and just ran [inside]."

Keshishyan said the man eventually pointed his gun at officers, prompting them to fire at the suspect. Aerial footage captured images of a dead body on the ground right in front of the Union Bank on the 12100 block of Ventura Boulevard.

Despite the proximity to the Union Bank and a next-door Citi Bank the FBI says there are no reports of a bank robbery related to this incident. There are no further suspects involved in this incident.

Around 4:25 p.m., the LAPD deployed a bomb squad robot to check and eventually detonate two suspicious items the man had on him.

There are several businesses and restaurants on this normally busy stretch of street, and authorities have evacuated the block. Currently, Ventura Boulevard between Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Laurelgrove Avenue are closed, as well as Laurel Canyon Boulevard south of Moorpark Street.