Cops Shoot Teen Security Guard Who Reportedly ‘Ran’ Away From Them ‘Because He Was Scared’

A teen security guard was killed by police in Los Angeles on Thursday night, according to authorities.

Andres Guardado, 18, was fatally shot in an alleyway near the auto shop he patrolled in the city of Gardena after cops claim he flashed a weapon and ran from them.

“Deputies observed the individual, at which point he observed the deputies,” Lt. Charles Calderaro said during a briefing. “The individual then produced a handgun and began running southbound away from the deputies through businesses nearby.”

“Deputies engaged in a short foot pursuit between the two businesses,” Calderaro added. “At some point, deputies contacted the suspect and that’s when the deputy-involved shooting occurred.”

Guardado was pronounced dead at the scene. No officers were injured.

It is unclear if Guardado fired shots at the deputies.

“He has always worked as a professional security guard,” Guardado’s sister told ABC7. “He had no armed weapons on him. None.”

Calderaro said a gun was recovered and ABC7 has footage of a weapon in the alleyway that authorities say is Guardado’s hand gun.

Guardado was not wearing his security guard uniform at the time of the shooting, per authorities.

Andrew Heney, owner of the auto body shop, told CBSLA that Guardado was hired as a private security guard.

“We had a security guard that was out front, because we had just had certain issues with people tagging and stuff like that,” Heney explained. “And then the police came up, and they pulled their guns on him and he ran because he was scared, and they shot and killed him.”

“He’s got a clean background and everything. There’s no reason.”

Guardado’s family showed up at the scene and could be seen getting into a shoving match with officers from footage provided by ABC7.

“I lost a part of me, it’s empty, and I’m never gonna have him back,” the teen’s sister told the outlet.

“I’m never gonna see him, he’s never gonna talk to me. I just can’t believe this happened to my brother. It really hurts me.”

An investigation regarding the incident is ongoing.

Guardado’s death comes just a day after another deadly shooting by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

On Wednesday, Terron Jammal Boone was fatally shot by deputies in Kern County, California after being identified as a suspect wanted for kidnapping, spousal assault and assault with a deadly weapon, per CBSN Los Angeles.

Boone was the half-brother of Robert Fuller, the Black man found dead hanging from a tree in Southern California last week.

An investigation by the FBI and California Attorney General’s Office has been called into Fuller’s death, which was originally ruled a suicide.

Federal agencies, including the FBI, are also investigating another death of a Black man, Malcolm Harsch, who was found hanging from a tree in Victorville, California on May 31.

The killings comes as Black Lives Matter protests continue across the nation calling for an end to police brutality and racial injustice in the wake of George Floyd’s death.