Two Los Angeles police officers were injured and a suspect was arrested Friday evening after a shooting that broke out in South Los Angeles while officers were investigating a possible robbery, authorities said.
The incident occurred around 9 p.m. Friday when the two LAPD Southeast Division officers responded to a report of a robbery in the 9200 block of Central Avenue, according to police.
At one point during the ensuing standoff, officers exchanged gunfire with an armed suspect, who then fled the scene, police said. It was not immediately clear whether the suspect was hit.
A radio call for help prompted a massive response from police — including officers from neighboring divisions on the scene — which sits on the border of Florence-Firestone, an unincorporated neighborhood north of Watts. Police equipped with K9s searched the area late into the night; the suspect was found and arrested after several hours, police said.
The two police officers, whose identities have not been identified, were taken to hospital. Their lives are not in danger. Police have not revealed where they were hit, but a police source told The Times that preliminary information suggests one of the officers suffered a graze wound to the leg, while the other was hit in the hand by shrapnel.
Both officers were conscious and talking when they arrived at the hospital, a police source told The Times on Friday. They were released from the hospital on Saturday morning.
Los Angeles police records show LAPD officers have opened fire 24 times so far this year, compared to 32 during the same period in 2023.
According to a recent crime briefing from Acting LAPD Chief Dominic Choi, the Southeast Area is one of several police divisions in the city experiencing an increase in thefts.
A Southeast officer was injured in another police shooting in the division area in July, in which a man allegedly opened fire on a police squad with a machine gun. The man was then taken into custody and faces a charge of attempted murder.
