A drugstore burglar bit a police officer and grabbed for another's handgun when he was fatally shot in Orange County Sunday morning, police said.
Officers found the man standing on a ladder in a Fountain Valley Rite Aid and tried to take him into custody when the struggle began, according to a news release from the Fountain Valley Police Department. Hit with a single gunshot, the burglar was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Two officers in total were injured in the incidient.
Police were called to the Rite Aid, in the 18300 block of Brookurst Avenue, when a store employee reported that a man had broken through a locked door. Police surrounded the store, which the employee fled, and called in a police dog to help locate the burglar, according to the release.
He struggled when officers tried to arrest him, biting one and grabbing for another's handgun.
"After repeated commands to release the officer’s firearm, the officer who suffered the bite wound fired a single round at the suspect, which stopped the struggle," the statement said.
Another officer's hand suffered a minor injury.
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As with other local officer-involved shootings, the Orange County District Attorney's Office is investigating.
