PASADENA, Calif. -- A 911 caller has been arrested after Pasadena police say his false armed robbery report led officers to shoot and kill a 19-year-old college student they believed to be a suspect.

Pasadena Police Chief Philip Sanchez told reporters Wednesday that a deadly chain of events was set into motion after officers responded to a 911 call claiming a laptop had been stolen by two armed men.

Caller Oscar Carrillo allegedly told officers that two suspects were armed with handguns on Orange Grove Boulevard at Raymond Avenue.

The phone call put officers on alert and led them to believe Kendrec McDade was armed when they saw him about two blocks from that location Saturday night, Sanchez said.

"The actions of the 911 caller set the minds of the officers," Sanchez said.

McDade ran from officers until an officer used the police cruiser to block McDade's path in an alley and rolled down his window, Lt. Phlunte Riddle said.

McDade allegedly made a motion at his waistband and the officer opened fire. A second officer who was chasing McDade on foot also opened fire, Riddle said.

Football standout

McDade, who was less than 10 feet away from the patrol car when the officer opened fire, died of his injuries at Huntington Hospital. The Citrus College student was a football standout at Azusa High School.

In an interview Monday with detectives, Sanchez said Carrillo admitted that he made up the story about the gun to speed up the officers' response. Detectives now believe McDade and the other person, a juvenile, were unarmed, Riddle said.

Carrillo was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter in connection with McDade's shooting, Sanchez said.

The other suspect, a juvenile, has been charged with two counts of commercial burglary, one count of grand theft and one count of failure to register as a gang member as a condition of his probation. He remains in custody.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, of Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, said there were "a great number of questions unanswered" in the case.

"The bottom line is this young man was not armed when he was shot dead," he told the Los Angeles Times.

Joe Scherf, head football coach at Azusa High, also told the Times that McDade was "a good kid who was never in trouble."

The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.