Saturday, December 10, 2011

Coroner IDs gunman who stalked Hollywood streets

Authorities on Saturday identified the gunman who was shot and killed by police after he fired at passing cars on a Hollywood street, wounding one driver while screaming that he wanted to die.

The body of Tyler Brehm, 26, was scheduled to be examined later Saturday, Los Angeles County Coroner's Lt. Larry Dietz said.

Brehm walked down the middle of Sunset Boulevard on Friday, firing on motorists with no clear target until two police officers who just happened to be in the area - an off-duty motorcycle officer working movie set security and an LAPD detective - shot and killed him, authorities said.

In amateur video taken at the scene, the gunman appeared to have short hair and wore jeans and a white tank top. He paced back and forth near the busy intersection with Vine Street, firing close to 20 rounds from what appeared to be a .40 caliber handgun, police said. Several witnesses reported seeing him reload at least once.

"He was screaming he was going to die and that he wanted to die," Gregory Bojorquez, a photographer who captured images of the shooting's aftermath, told the Los Angeles Times.

Investigators were trying to determine a motive for the attack.

Ramon Hernandez, who lived in the apartment next door to Brehm, said Brehm and his girlfriend had recently broken up and moved out.

He told KABC-TV Saturday that the pair kept to themselves but he at times heard them arguing.

"I could tell that he was an unstable person," Hernandez said, "but I don't know the details on what actually made him snap."

Chris Johns captured video of the gunman from his apartment window several stories above the street, and tried to distract and divert the gunman from shooting anyone on the street.

"Hey why don't you come up here! Come up here buddy!" Johns yelled.

Johns told KABC he saw a plainclothes officer shoot the man.

"I started shouting out to the officer, saying `take him out, that's the guy!'" Johns said.

He continued shooting at vehicles and in the air when he was confronted by the officers.

They ordered the suspect to stop and drop his weapon. He was shot when he pointed his weapon at the officers. The gunman was pronounced dead at the scene, Los Angeles police Officer Cleon Joseph said. No officers were hurt.

The area was cordoned off and the gunman lay under a white sheet in the street hours after the gunfire, leaving traffic tangled on busy Hollywood streets, an area packed with stores and restaurants.

The 40-year-old male driver of a Mercedes-Benz was wounded in the face and upper torso.

Paramedics took him to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and police said in a statement he was in "guarded and critical condition."

Authorities have not released his name.

A truck and another car were struck by bullets.

Two people were treated at the scene for minor injuries. One man suffered a grazing wound to his left thigh when a bullet passed through his car door. Another man had minor cuts from broken glass after bullet struck the driver door where it met the window.

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