Suspect Fatally Shot, Police Officer Wounded in Shootout Near Los Angeles

April 26, 2011

Monterey Park Police Officer Gilbert Alvarez sustained a grazing wound to the head and two bystanders who were struck in the legs by stray bullets were hospitalized in stable condition.

MONTEREY PARK, Calif. --

A car crash and road rage triggered a stabbing and a running gun battle that ended with the suspect dead and a Monterey Park police officer and three other people hospitalized, authorities said Monday.

Edgar Battad's gun fight with police began Sunday when he rear-ended a driver and fled the scene, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Michael Thomas said. The man followed the 63-year-old Battad by car to confront him and Battad stabbed him in the leg before running to his apartment.

Police were called to the scene in Monterey Park, 10 miles east of Los Angeles, and gunfire started almost as soon as officers arrived. Battad used a pistol to fire several rounds through a door and continued firing as he ran through a back door, Thomas said.

He was fatally shot by officers during a brief foot chase.

Monterey Park police officer Gilbert Alvarez sustained a grazing wound to the head, and two bystanders who were struck in the legs by stray bullets were hospitalized in stable condition on Monday, Thomas said.

The stabbing victim was also hospitalized in stable condition Monday, he said.

Dozens of police officers and sheriff's deputies conducted an intense search for a possible second suspect but later called it off when they determined there was no else involved.