Of Jany Libor

Source Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Two Los Angeles police officers were injured and a suspect was arrested Friday night after a shootout that erupted in South LA as officers investigated a possible robbery, authorities said.

The incident happened Friday around 9 p.m. when the two officers from the LAPD Southeast Division responded to a report of a robbery in the 9200 block of Central Avenue, according to police.

At some point during the ensuing encounter, officers exchanged fire with an armed suspect, who then fled the area, police said. It was not immediately clear if the suspect was hit.

A radio call for help brought a massive police response — including officers from neighboring divisions to the scene — which straddles the Florence-Firestone border, an unincorporated neighborhood north of Watts. Officers with police K9s searched the area late into the night; the suspect was found and arrested several hours later, police said.

The two unnamed officers were taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Police did not say where they were hit, but a law enforcement source told The Times that preliminary information suggested one of the officers suffered a leg wound, while the other was hit in the hand by shrapnel.

Both officers were conscious and talking when they arrived at the hospital, a law enforcement source told The Times on Friday. They were discharged from the hospital on Saturday morning.

LAPD records show that LAPD officers opened fire 24 times this year, compared to 32 during the same time period in 2023.

According to a recent crime briefing by acting LAPD Chief Dominic Choi, the Southeast Precinct is one of the city’s police divisions that has seen an increase in robberies.

A south-east officer was injured in another police shootout in the division area in July, during which a man allegedly opened fire on a police team with a machine gun. The man was later arrested and she is accused of attempted murder.

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