Man Killed; Drawn ‘Gun’ Was Hair Spray

Mistaking a can of hair spray as a possible weapon, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy shot and mortally wounded a 24-year-old man stopped for routine questioning early today in West Hollywood, investigators said.

The man died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center three hours after he had been shot by Robert Harms, 27, a sheriff’s deputy for 4 1/2 years. The victim’s identity was withheld until relatives could be notified.

The Sheriff’s Information Bureau gave this account of the shooting: Harms and his partner, Scott Graham, 26, were driving in the 8700 block of Sunset Boulevard at 3:45 a.m. when they saw a pedestrian walking in the street near a water project which had been isolated with cones.

The deputies called for the man to come to their patrol car and warned him as he approached that there was an open manhole in his way. As he approached, the man said “I have something to show you” and reached into a jacket pocket.

When he withdrew his hand, Harms saw a metal object and fired from the driver’s side in front of Graham, shooting the advancing man in the abdomen. Upon investigation, they found it was a can of hair spray. The man wore facial makeup and carried a purse.

Deputy Robert Stoneman of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau said that Harms and Graham also found a cigarette lighter in the man’s other hand. According to Stoneman, lighted hair spray can be a “very dangerous weapon.”

While the shooting is being investigated by the sheriff’s homicide bureau, Harms will be reassigned to duties out of the field. When the probe is complete, the results will be turned over to the district attorney’s office.