Authorities ID Unarmed 19-Year-Old Shot By Police

Police today identified a 19-year-old man who was fatally wounded in an officer-involved shooting at a vacant, graffiti-covered apartment in Long Beach.

Hector Morejon of Long Beach was shot about 2:45 p.m. Thursday after officers were dispatched to an apartment complex in the 1100 block of Hoffman Avenue to investigate “a report of several subjects unlawfully trespassing and tagging inside a vacant apartment,” Sgt. Megan Zabel said.

“When the officers arrived, they discovered a broken window to the apartment. The officers located a second window that was open and the screen was removed,” Zabel said.

An officer looked through the broken window and saw Morejon standing next to a wall. At that point, Morejon, while bending his knees, turned toward the officer and extended his arm “as if pointing an object which the officer perceived was a gun,” according to police.

“At this point, an officer involved shooting occurred,” police said.

Morejon was in critical condition when taken to a hospital and died late Thursday night, Zabel said.

No weapon was recovered.

Arrested at the scene on suspicion of trespassing were Long Beach residents Edgar Rodarte, 20; German Rodarte, 21; and Yesenia Pineda, 22, police said.

German Rodarte also was suspected of violating a gang injunction.

The interior of the apartment where the shooting took place was covered in gang-related graffiti, police said.

Long Beach police homicide detectives and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office were conducting investigations, as is standard in officer-involved shooting cases, Zabel said.

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City News Service

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