A teenager who had graduated high school just last year was shot and killed outside a Michaels craft store in a deputy-involved shooting that has left his family reeling — and insisting the deadly encounter makes no sense.
The fatal confrontation unfolded around 8:40 p.m. Thursday night in the parking lot of a shopping plaza on Fallbrook Avenue in West Hills, California, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Investigators claim deputies witnessed what they believed to be an armed robbery in progress near the Michaels store. Authorities allege a deputy attempted to stop the suspect and protect a female victim when gunfire erupted.
Moments later, the teen lay wounded in the parking lot.
A deputy involved in the shooting attempted life-saving measures until firefighters arrived, but the young man was pronounced dead at the scene just eight minutes later.
Officials have not released the victim’s name, age, or the identity of the deputy who fired the fatal shots. A loaded semi-automatic handgun was recovered near the body, authorities said.
A woman who spoke to KTLA, declining to give her name, said the person killed was her 18-year-old grandson — a recent high school graduate who had just come to stay with her for the night.
“He went out with his girlfriend,” she said. “Then she called and said he’d been shot. I just can’t believe it.”
His mother echoed that disbelief, saying the allegations surrounding her son’s death are completely out of character.
“This does not sound like my son at all,” she said through tears. “He comes from a good family. He graduated high school last year. I’m heartbroken. I’m in shock. I don’t even know how to process this.”
Authorities said a female accomplice allegedly fled the scene in a vehicle but was later tracked down in Agoura Hills and detained without incident.
Investigators are now probing whether the deadly encounter could be linked to two recent armed robberies and an assault with a deadly weapon in the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station area, though no official connection has been confirmed.
For now, a family is left grieving — and searching for answers — as a young life ended in a shopping center parking lot.
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