Police Kill Man Suspected of Firing at Deputies

ORANGE —  A man who police say shot at sheriff’s deputies in Norwalk last week was killed Thursday in Orange after he drew a gun as he tried to flee from police.

The man, tentatively identified as Robert Arthur Vandervort, 34, was shot and killed by Anaheim police officers who were on a stakeout at an Orange apartment complex where an acquaintance of Vandervort’s lived, Orange Police Lt. Art Romo said.

Vandervort was suspected of shooting at Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in a Norwalk trailer park Saturday night.

“We have not identified him yet, but we believe he is the same suspect,” Romo said.

Anaheim police were watching the Orange apartment when Vandervort and an unidentified companion pulled up to the complex in the 700 block of Adele Street about 4:30 p.m., Romo said.

“When they reached the apartments, officers who recognized the suspect stopped him, and he pulled a handgun and then started to run,” Romo said. “He ran through the apartment complex, jumped a wooden fence, and eventually he was stopped by police [who] shot him in the front yard of a home.”

The companion, who was not identified, was detained for questioning.

Police from at least four agencies were involved in staking out three locations in Orange County where Vandervort had either friends or relatives.

Vandervort was wanted on suspicion of spousal abuse when a sheriff’s deputy pulled him over shortly before noon Saturday on San Antonio Drive in Norwalk, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesman said.

Instead of stopping, he sped away on his motorcycle, leading the deputy on a chase along the Golden State Freeway.

Officers eventually found him at Norwalk Village, a trailer park on Rosecrans Avenue.

When a deputy entered the park, Vandervort fired at him. The deputy returned fire, but Vandervort ran away and escaped in a car he took at gunpoint from a woman in the park.

The stolen vehicle was later recovered in Orange County, police said.