Investigators are examining the deaths of an elderly woman and a man encountered by deputies inside a Maplewood Street home.
BELLFLOWER, CA — Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies fatally shot an armed man Sunday afternoon after entering a Bellflower home where an elderly woman had been found unresponsive in a pool of blood, authorities said.
Deputies and Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel were sent to the 9500 block of Maplewood Street around 1 p.m. Sept. 27 after a neighbor called 911. Authorities said the neighbor had gone to check on the home and saw an unresponsive woman through a window. Deputies arriving at the property also saw the woman and entered the residence to provide aid and search for other possible victims.
Inside the home, deputies encountered a man in his early 50s who was armed with a firearm, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Two deputies fired their weapons during the encounter, striking the man. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The woman, believed to be in her 80s, was also pronounced dead. Authorities had not publicly identified either person as of early Monday.
A handgun was recovered near the man, investigators said. Authorities initially had not determined whether he fired at deputies during the encounter. Sheriff’s Lt. Michael Modica said the weapon appeared to have been fired inside the residence, but investigators were still working to establish when it was discharged and the circumstances surrounding the deputy-involved shooting. No deputies were reported injured.
The circumstances of the woman’s death also remained under investigation. Authorities had not released the nature of her injuries or established publicly whether the man encountered by deputies was responsible for her death. Investigators believe the two knew each other, but their relationship had not been confirmed. Officials also had not determined whether both people lived at the Maplewood Street home.
Modica said investigators did not believe the deaths resulted from a random act of violence. That assessment did not establish what happened inside the home before deputies arrived, and authorities had not announced a motive or released a detailed sequence of events leading to the woman’s death. Detectives were working to determine what occurred before the neighbor’s 911 call and what role, if any, the man had in the woman’s death.
A neighbor, Taylor White, told ABC7 that the neighborhood had appeared quiet before a series of gunshots and the arrival of numerous law enforcement vehicles. The witness account describes what could be heard outside the home but does not establish what happened during the confrontation inside. Investigators had not released body-camera footage or other video from the encounter as of early Monday.
The fatal shooting will undergo several layers of investigation. The Sheriff’s Department says its Homicide Bureau handles criminal investigations of deputy-involved shootings in which someone is struck by gunfire. Such shootings also receive independent review by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office Justice System Integrity Division, while the county Office of Inspector General provides oversight. Fatal incidents also involve a parallel examination by the county medical examiner.
Investigators were continuing to examine evidence from the Bellflower home and determine how the woman died, whether the recovered handgun had been fired during the encounter with deputies and what relationship existed between the two people who died. Authorities had not announced when their identities or additional findings would be released.
Author note: Last updated September 28, 2026.