LA Weekly – by Dennis RomeroAn LAPD officer was injured after someone opened fire at the department’s West Traffic Division in Mid-City, police said.
The attack was reported at 8 p.m. at the Wilshire Division, which also includes West Traffic facilities, on Venice Boulevard near La Brea Avenue, Officer Sara Faden told LA Weekly.
A person who is not a cop was also injured in the attack, she said:
A suspect was in custody, Faden said. It’s not clear if the injured civilian and the suspect are one and the same.
The officer appeared to have sustained non-life-threatening wounds. Faden said it was possible the cop was injured by shrapnel, but details were not yet clear.
KCAL9’s helicopter tracked an ambulance to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center near Beverly Hills.
Venice Boulevard between La Brea Avenue and Rimpau Boulevard was shut down, police said.
Motive for the violence was unknown.
Last year officers outside that very station were ambushed by a shooter who apparently got away. A man dressed in black pulled the trigger, injuring two cops, police said.
See also: See also: LAPD Detectives Shot in Ambush at Wilshire Division
It’s not clear if this incident is related.
[Update at 9:25 p.m.]: The attack turned into a full-on shootout, according to police.
Faden of the LAPD told us a “suspect entered the lobby of the West Traffic Division and began shooting.”
“The officer working the front desk returned fire, striking the suspect,” she said. “During the exchange of gunfire the officer was also struck by the suspect’s gunfire.”
Faden said there were preliminary reports the officer might have been hit in a shoulder by gunfire. She said she assumed the cop was wearing a ballistic vest, but she wasn’t 100 percent sure.
The extent of the suspect’s injuries were unknown.
KCAL9 said a witness reported hearing multiple shots, perhaps as many as six, followed by a return volley that included about just as many rounds.
[Added at 10:05 p.m.]: Cmdr. Andrew Smith told reporters at the scene that a man walked into the lobby of West Traffic Division, said he had a complaint, and opened fire, hitting an officer four times.
Two officers returned fire, striking the suspect, he said, who was hospitalized in critical condition. The suspect was undergoing surgery, he said.
The officer who was hit suffered non-life-threatening wounds and was indeed wearing a ballistic vest, Smith said.
A bomb squad was at the scene checking out a vehicle that might be connected to the shooting suspect, according to television reports.
A man who was at attending community meeting in a room at the station told KTLA News as many as 20 rounds started flying and that “one bullet came into our room.”
[Added at 10:44 p.m.]: LAPD Chief Charlie Beck reportedly said that the officer took 7 rounds, including 3 in his ballistic vest and 4 in his “extremities.”
The chief also tweeted this:
Just left our #LAPD officer’s bedside at the hospital. Two things saved his life: #bodyarmor & #determination. Courageous will to survive.
[Added at 11:03 p.m.]: L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti issued this statement tonight:
I’ve spoken by phone with the LAPD officer who was shot tonight at Wilshire Station. He is doing well and is in good spirits. I wish him a speedy recovery.
Outside Cedars-Sinai, Chief Beck had this to say:
To be shot 7 times at close range by a semi-automatic pistol and to be talking to me. … just by the grace of God we did not lose another one.
… After being hit 7 times, he returned fire and saved his own life and the life of his partner.
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http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2014/04/07/lapd-officer-injured-after-shots-fired-at-police-station
probably someone that’s had enough of their sh*t!
Good news. Nothing like an attack on a pig-sty to start the day off right. It’s too bad he didn’t have six or eight guys with him. They might have been able to restore law and order there if they got all the local cops out of the way.
Saw that movie…old one
So the officer survived? That sucks. Now the bastard cop has a second chance to murder an innocent person on the street.
“To be shot 7 times at close range by a semi-automatic pistol and to be talking to me. … just by the grace of God we did not lose another one.
… After being hit 7 times, he returned fire and saved his own life and the life of his partner.”
So he was wearing a vest and was shot 7 times at close range and was still able to return fire? Hmm……that doesn’t sound right. I call B.S.
Wasn’t me.
He’d be in the morgue, not the hospital if it had been.
my hero. Anyone with the nuts to walk in a cop-shop and put hole in the donut eaters gets a tip of my hat.
Especially here, Nottoobitter.
Virtually guaranteed that you won’t walk away from it. WAY too many of the bast@rds in the inner cities, and once it’s locked down… well, you saw what happened in Boston.
” L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti issued this statement tonight.
“I’ve spoken by phone with the LAPD officer who was shot tonight at Wilshire Station. He is doing well and is in good spirits. I wish him a speedy recovery.”
I wish them BOTH a speedy death.