A 29-year-old man shot by police after allegedly opening fire at a Los Angeles Police Department station early this month, wounding an officer, died Thursday, officials said.
Daniel Christoph Yealu, who was charged with two counts of attempted murder of a peace officer, had been hospitalized in critical condition after being wounded when police returned fire in the April 7 attack.
LAPD Cmdr. Andy Smith confirmed Yealu's death. The cause of death was not immediately available.
Authorities allege Yealu walked into the Venice Boulevard station about 8:30 p.m. on that Monday, approached the front desk and fired a Glock pistol at the two officers there. One of the officers was wounded before the pair returned fire.
Four rounds hit the officer in his ballistic vest and three hit his extremities, but he was expected to recover. At a news conference after the shooting, police Chief Charlie Beck said the officer was "very, very lucky" and, by returning fire, saved his partner's life.
Official said Yealu was carrying extra magazines and had a "heavily modified" AK-47 in his car parked outside. Authorities later found what Beck described as an "armament" of high-powered weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition at Yealu's home.
Yealu had also faced gun allegations in connection with the attack. If convicted of all the charges, he faced 75 years to life in state prison, prosecutors said. Still hospitalized, Yealu had yet to enter a plea.
Investigators had been trying to determine what prompted the attack, saying only that before he began shooting, Yealu told the officers he had a complaint.
Yealu's father said in an interview with The Times that he learned of the allegations against his son when detectives showed up at his door the next morning. He said that although he didn't talk to his son often -- the pair last spoke by phone in October -- he noticed no warning signs.
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McClatchy-Tribune News Service
