LAPD Ambush: Two Officers Shot, Arrests Made

An early morning LAPD ambush resulted in the wounding of two officers, and police are hunting for a gunman in Mid-City.

The LAPD ambush occurred at around 4:30 AM outside the Wilshire Community Police Station, on 4861 Venice Blvd.

Shot in the ambush were two detectives who had been working undercover with a burglary task force. The men were returning to the station and attempting to enter the complex with key cards when the shooter or shooters opened fire on their car, striking both.

The detectives shot back and the shooter or shooters fled the scene on foot, local news sources report. One officer was grazed with a wound to the face, and the other was hit on one hand — but both investigators were treated and released back to work to assist in investigating the shooting.

The Los Angeles Times reports that several arrests resulting from a 25 block perimeter set up after the shooting have been made, and the paper says:

“Police initially issued a tactical alert but have since called it off… Multiple individuals people have been detained in a dragnet stretching from San Vicente to Washington boulevards and Rimpau to Redondo boulevards.”

LAPD Commander Andy Smith told CNN that such a brazen attack centered upon a police station is in and of itself rare, and added that burglary investigations normally do not spur acts of violence like the shooting of the two detectives this morning in Mid-City:

“Usually, burglars don’t go after the people that are searching for them, so this seems like a more violent suspect.”

The suspect in the LAPD shooting was described as a black man in a ball cap, ranging between 30 and 35 years of age.