Suspect Shot in Lancaster Drug Arrest

A Lancaster man was shot by a sheriff’s deputy Wednesday during a drug arrest in the Antelope Valley, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

The man was wounded when deputies of a narcotics team served a search warrant at a home in the 45000 block of N. 11th Street West in Lancaster at 1:30 p.m., Sgt. Robert Stoneman said. Arrested in the incident were Richard Forch, 22, of Lancaster; David Ravizee, 22, of Lancaster, and Jimmy Wallace, 42, of Lancaster.

After serving the warrant, deputies detained Ravizee and Wallace in the house, Stoneman said. A deputy went into a rear room where he spotted Forch crouched behind a sofa.

The deputy pushed the sofa out of the way, Stoneman said. Forch turned toward the deputy with his hands clasped together and stretched his arms in front of him.

Believing that Forch was armed and that he was about to shoot, the deputy fired one shot that passed through Forch’s right arm into his upper body, Stoneman said. An investigation later determined that Forch was unarmed.

Forch was in stable condition at Antelope Valley Hospital, Stoneman said.

Deputies seized undisclosed amounts of rock cocaine, narcotics paraphernalia and two handguns from the house, Stoneman said. The three men, facing charges of possession of rock cocaine for sale, are each being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.