Smoker Shot Deputy After Being Told to Leave Station

A burning cigarette and a locked-up girlfriend apparently prompted the shooting of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy inside the Carson station by a man who was then shot and killed by other deputies, officials said Monday.

“He apparently came in to get some information on a female who was in custody,” Sheriff’s Department spokesman Deputy Brian Jones said of the dead gunman, identified as Robert Almeida, 25, of Carson. “He walked in with a cigarette and was told to leave because it’s illegal to smoke inside. He went out, came back and did the deed.”

Sheriff’s investigators said Almeida, a reported gang member with a criminal record, opened fire with a .38-caliber handgun about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, wounding Deputy Robert Frank, 25, who was at the lobby counter. Three other deputies inside the station rushed out and shot Almeida in the upper body, killing him.

Sheriff’s Department spokesmen said Frank was in stable condition Monday after undergoing surgery for gunshot wounds in both arms. Several people who were in the lobby when the shooting erupted were not injured.

Jones said there was no argument between Almeida and the deputy before the shooting--Almeida was simply told to take the cigarette outside. Frank was talking on the phone when Almeida walked back in and never saw the gun being pointed at him, said Sgt. Lynn Reeder.

“Bam, it was over,” Reeder said.

He added, “I don’t know if we’ll ever know what was going on in his (Almeida’s) mind.”

Sheriff’s Department spokesmen said it was the first such incident in the Carson station’s 20-year history. No additional security measures have been undertaken, they said.