STRUGGLE ENDS WITH MAN SHOT.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick  Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Sheriff's officials were investigating Saturday the fatal shooting of a Los Angeles man who they said tried to grab the pistol of a deputy during a struggle on a downtown Lancaster street.

The man had been stopped by two Lancaster gang-detail deputies about 9:45 p.m. Friday in the 45000 block of Yucca Avenue, a business district, because they thought he was acting suspiciously, said Deputy Rich Pena, a sheriff's spokesman said.

The deputies began patting down the man to see if he was carrying any weapons. During the search, a handgun fell from the man's waistband, Pena said.

After the handgun fell to the ground, Pena said, the man began struggling with the deputies. He had his hand on one deputy's holstered handgun when the other deputy opened fire, firing several shots, Pena said.

Identified by coroner's officials as Linord Griffin, 25, of Los Angeles, the man died at a hospital.

This was the second fatal shooting in a little over two months in Lancaster during what sheriff's officials said were struggles with deputies.

In August, a 26-year-old Palmdale man was shocked twice with an electronic stun device and then shot to death by a sheriff's deputy during a struggle in a brush-covered Lancaster field.

Deputies said the man pulled out the device's wires and attacked the deputy, knocking him to the ground. The man was kneeling over the deputy, pummeling him with his fists, when the deputy drew his pistol and fired one shot, officials said.

The deputy had tried to stop the man because he had just walked away from a car he crashed into a ditch.