Dennis RomeroA third police officer was shot today in a incident apparently unrelated to the attack on two detectives outside the LAPD's Wilshire Division station this morning.
The cop was shot in the 2200 block of East 117th Street about 7:29 p.m. in an area of South L.A. just south of the city line, LAPD Officer Sara Faden told the Weekly:
The victim was taken to a hospital in unknown condition, she said.
It wasn't clear what the cop was doing in the area. While some reports indicated the officer involved is a sheriff's deputy Faden said the victim is a member of her department.
The attack follows a double shooting outside the Wilshire Division station on Wilshire Boulevard about 4:30 a.m. Police were calling that one an ambush by a man in black.
See also: LAPD Detectives Shot in Ambush at Wilshire Division.
The detectives sustained only minor wounds and were treated at a hospital and released, according to the LAPD.
[Update at 8:58 p.m.]: Faden says the officer was working a “probation search” when the suspect opened fire, hitting the cop in the face.
The officer was stabilized at a hospital, she said.
Although there are reports that the department is on a citywide tactical alert, which keeps all hands on-deck for major emergencies despite shift changes, Faden said she had no information that was the case tonight.
[Updated at 11:03 p.m.]: An LAPD SWAT team was at the scene as the suspect was believed to be inside a home where not one but two lawmen were shot tonight, LAPD Commander Andrew Smith told reporters at the scene.
The LAPD officer, from the 77th Division's gang team, was stabilized but was also in critical condition following the attack, Officer Christopher No told us.
Another cop, this one a county probation officer, suffered a graze wound to a leg but was okay, No said. He was still at the scene.
The suspect apparently opened fire from the attic of a home toward the end of a search that was initiated by the probation department, he said. 77th Division officers were there to help, he said.
The incident was not connected to the Wilshire Division ambush, No said.
He added that the department was indeed on a citywide tactical alert tonight as a result of the incident and the search for a suspect.
[Update at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday]: LAPD Lt. Andy Neiman told reporters at the scene that when officers entered the house this morning, the suspect was found deceased.
It appeared that he had died of multiple gunshot wounds from the earlier exchange of gunfire with law officers that injured the two cops, Officer Susan Torres said.
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