Ventura Police Kill Gun-Toting Driver
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A Baldwin Hills man was shot to death by two Ventura police officers when he pointed a pistol at them after a car crash on the Ventura Freeway, police said.
The dead man was identified by Ventura police Saturday as Jose Hernandez Jr., 32.
He was shot after an incident that began Friday evening when his southbound auto veered to the side of the freeway, broke through a guardrail on a railroad overpass and rolled down an 80-foot embankment just north of the Johnson Drive off-ramp in Ventura, the California Highway Patrol said.
When motorists stopped to help, Hernandez brandished a pistol at them, and he then ran off, Ventura police said.
Officers Ralph H. Michaels and Brian A. Roberts sighted Hernandez walking between the freeway and railroad tracks about a quarter-mile north of the accident and opened fire with shotguns, when Hernandez pointed the weapon at the officers, police said.
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