Pablo Renato Cartagena, 23

Pablo Renato Cartagena, a 23-year-old Latino, was fatally shot by Los Angeles police officers Monday, Nov. 28, in the 2700 block of Maple Avenue in Historic South-Central, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records.

About 1 p.m., officers with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Metropolitan Division were driving near East 27th Street and Maple Avenue when they spotted a man who they “believed was about to burglarize a vehicle,” said LAPD Det. Meghan Aguilar.

The officers stopped to investigate, Aguilar said, and the man, later identified as Cartagena, ran.

The officers chased him to the back of a nearby home, where one officer shot him.

Cartagena was pronounced dead at 1:14 p.m. at the scene, according to coroner’s records.

It was not immediately clear what happened in the moments before the shooting or why the officer fired, Aguilar said.

Investigators found a handgun near the man’s body that they believe was his, she added. It was also not clear why the officers thought the man intended to burglarize the vehicle.

The officers were in the neighborhood as part of the department’s “crime suppression” efforts in which Metro officers monitor certain areas for criminal activity. Aguilar said investigators would canvass the area for any surveillance footage that may have captured the chase or shooting.

The officers did not have body cameras or a camera in their vehicle, she said. No officers were injured. Investigators blocked off Maple Avenue with yellow police tape that day,  drawing the attention of neighbors and children walking home from school.

Photo: Investigators on Nov. 28 examine the South L.A. scene where a Los Angeles police officer fatally shot Pablo Cartagena. Credit: Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.