The 900 block of South Francisco Street via Google Street View.

March 19, 1913: F.C. Fredericks presents the LAPD with a difficult situation in the days before tear gas and swat teams (or indeed before negotiations by telephone).

Fredericks was a carpenter who had come to Los Angeles from Topeka, Kans., three weeks before with his brother W.R. Fredericks of Hollywood. F.C. was unable to work, The Times says, because of stomach trouble, and was living in a second-floor room of a house at 922. S. Francisco. St.

In checking on his younger brother at 8 p.m., W.R. Fredericks found him “in a dangerous stupor” and returned with a doctor. When the unidentified doctor  was unable to rouse F.C. Fredericks, the brother left to get some ammonia, but when he returned the doctor had vanished and F.C. was asleep.

According to The Times, while the brother was gone, the man awakened, saw the doctor, drew a pistol from under his pillow and fired a shot. “The doctor left at once, falling most of the way downstairs,” The Times said.

W.R. Fredericks applied some ammonia to the nose of his unconscious brother, who awakened, yelled that he was going to kill
him and grabbed the gun from under the pillow.

The elder Fredericks jumped for the window and fell to the ground, injuring his arm and side. He contacted the police and motorcycle Officer Kiercey was sent to investigate. F.C. Fredericks fired at Kiercey, and Sgt. Lloyd Hallowell “and four assistants” were sent to the house.

“An attempt will be made to arrest the man without injuring him,” The Times said.

In an update, The Times said the man fired two more shots “to cunningly give the impression that he had committed suicide, but the police refused to be decoyed.”

Police used a ladder to rescue a woman living on the second floor of the house who had locked herself in her room.

I am unable to locate any further coverage in The Times, so conclusion will have to remain a mystery.