A man was shot and killed early Saturday when he interrupted three people trying to remove a catalytic converter from a car in downtown Los Angeles, police said.
Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Officer Judd Chavez said the man encountered the suspect around 3:25 a.m. near Pico Avenue and Hope Street. Chavez said one of them shot him and the three fled in a car.
The victim, believed to be between 30 and 35 years old, was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
No further details are available at this time.
A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device usually installed in a vehicle’s chassis and contains precious metals such as rhodium, palladium and platinum. Thieves can make hundreds of dollars by selling them to auto parts suppliers or scrap yards, where they can be melted down and extracted to extract the high-value metal.
Catalytic converter thefts have surged in California during the COVID-19 pandemic, in part due to heightened economic hardship. The trend has prompted new state laws that make it illegal for recyclers to purchase parts from anyone other than the legal owner or authorized dealer and increase penalties for buyers who fail to prove that catalytic converters have not been stolen. .
Times staff writers Faith Pinho and Hannah Wiley contributed to this report.
