A sheriff's deputy shot and killed a gunman who wounded another officer during an earlier confrontation Saturday in Southeast Los Angeles, officials said.
The 31-year-old suspect was shot about 7:10 a.m. in the 2700 block of Grand Avenue in the Walnut Park area, said Lt. Holly Francisco, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The suspect, described only as a Latino man, has not been identified.
Three hours earlier, the gunman shot and wounded a transit police deputy who approached him near the intersection of Pacific Boulevard and Grand, authorities said. The suspect fled on foot.
Deputies assisted by search dogs located the suspect three hours later on Grand, a residential street about a block and a half east of the first shooting. When the suspect pulled out a gun, a special enforcement deputy shot and killed him, Francisco said.
Paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene. His identity will not be released until his family has been notified, Francisco said.
The deputy who was shot is being treated for a nonlife-threatening injury, Francisco said. Authorities have not yet interviewed the deputy and it is not known why he first approached the suspect, she said.
"We're still in the very preliminary stages of the investigation," Francisco said. As with all deputy-involved shootings, the death will be investigated by the Los Angeles County district attorney and the sheriff's homicide and internal affairs bureaus."
Walnut Park is an unincorporated area of southeast Los Angeles County that borders Florence-Firestone, Huntington Park and South Gate, according to Mapping L.A.
There have been at least 301 people killed in officer-involved shootings since 2007, according to The Times' Homicide Report database.
Copyright 2014 - Los Angeles Times
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
