Shock over the death of a Los Angeles police officer in "a street robbery" while looking for a house with his girlfriend

By Marlene Lenthang -

An off-duty Los Angeles police officer was fatally injured Monday in a robbery while looking for a home to buy with his girlfriend, authorities said.

The agent was identified as Fernando Arroyos, 27, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

He had been a police officer for three years and was assigned to the Olympic Division.

The shooting occurred Monday afternoon at East 87th and 1700 streets, in the unincorporated part of the city, reported the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the agency leading the investigation.

[Suspect who killed a Taco Bell employee in front of his son in Los Angeles arrested]

Arroyos was killed in a shooting when three men tried to assault

him, Michel Moore, head of the Los Angeles Police Department, explained Tuesday, according to our sister network NBC News.

Officer Fernando Arrollos, 28, Los Angeles, California Police LAPD

The officer had been looking for a house to buy with his girlfriend when the alleged assailants approached them and two of them opened fire, detectives told the Los Angeles affiliate of NBC News.

Arroyos asked his girlfriend to run, exchanged shots with the suspects and was injured

, authorities explained.

Moore claimed that the agent had a "bright future" that was "taken from him in a street robbery."

Minutes before they killed him, Arroyos sent him a photo of the house he wanted to buy to his mother, Claudia Karina Membreño, according to what she said in an interview with Noticias Telemundo.

"I know they are going to catch the one who did it": says mother of police murdered during robbery

Jan. 12, 202202: 24

Membreño said

.

“All the time he told me, 'Mother, I know that in my work, at any time they will kill me, I know that they will kill me or I will kill' (he said), 'but bear in mind, he carries that pride If they do, it is to save the country, ”Membreño recalled.

"He died a hero"

Authorities arrived on the scene at 9:16 pm after responding to a report of a gun assault that left a gunshot wound and found Arroyos "lying unconscious" in an alley, according to the sheriff's office.

He was taken to Saint Francis Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Five adults - three men and two women - have been detained during the investigation

, but none have been charged with the murder, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office.

Their names have not been released.

Authorities said they received a report from another man with gunshot wounds who was taken to a local hospital where he was treated.

This person was found a couple of miles from the scene of the shooting. 

"It remains to be determined whether this individual, or that shooting, is related to this incident," the sheriff's office clarified. 

On Tuesday, the city's mayor, Eric Garcetti, paid tribute to Arroyos at a conference on other topics.

"This man died like a hero trying to defend himself and his girlfriend," he said.

Anyone with information related to this case is asked to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Office at (323) 890-5500 or may report clues anonymously to 'Crime Stoppers' by dialing (800) 222-TIPS (8477)