UPDATED 4:48PM | Long Beach Police Department has identified the suspect as 39-year-old Long Beach resident John DelReal.

ORIGINAL 9:48AM | An investigation is underway this morning into another fatal officer-involved shooting, the second time Long Beach police have opened fire and killed a suspect in three days. 

The latest incident occurred at around 5:15PM Thursday afternoon when a plainclothes officer was in the 2300 block of 17th St. (at Junipero Ave.) conducting a narcotics investigation. According to Long Beach police Sgt. Aaron Eaton, police were in the area investigating reports of drug dealing in the neighborhood when the suspect approached the officer in a threatening manner. 

The suspect reached for a then-unknown object in his waistband at which point the officer identified himself and gave several commands before opening fire, said Eaton. The officer attempted to render aid, but the suspect was pronounced deceased at the hospital. A metal bat the man allegedly had tucked into his waistband was recovered at the scene, Eaton said. 

“There have been several complaints about crime activity in this neighborhood,” Eaton said, “and our East Division officers continue to work diligently to make sure we try to address these types of issues.”

No one else was injured in the shooting, which is the third involving LBPD officers in five days. Police shot and wounded a man in Belmont Shore on Saturday after he violated a restraining order and allegedly broke into his ex-girlfriend’s garage to retreive a handgun. 

On Wednesday morning, Long Beach police also killed a suspect in a Carson backyard after a running gun battle had taken them from a gas station through a local park and into a residential neighborhood. 

Homicide detectives and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office are each conducting their own investivations into all three shootings. 

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