Police Shoot Carjacking Suspect Near USC Health Sciences Campus In Boyle Heights
BOYLE HEIGHTS (CBSLA.com) — Police shot and wounded a man, who escaped from police custody and carjacked a woman in Boyle Heights Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
The shooting happened near the USC Health Sciences Campus around 3:30 p.m. in the area of Zonal Avenue and Cummings Street.
The shooting created chaos for faculty, staff and students on campus.
Stephanie Zia told CBS2/KCAL9's Rachel Kim what her colleague did when he heard the shots. "Ran through my office door and said 'There's a shooter. There's a shooter.' Told the rest of my office staff, and we ended up just buckling down and staying away from the windows. We just sat and waited until we heard further word."
When everything was over, police explained what happened. They said this all began Tuesday when officers went to an apartment to follow up on a report.
There, they saw a man standing inside the doorway with a knife to a girl's throat. She was able to break away and the man was later arrested.
Fast forward to Wednesday afternoon when officers brought the suspect to Los Angeles County Medical Center to get some sort of exam.
At that time, he broke free and ran from the facility. He then came out to Zonal Avenue, where he carjacked a woman's SUV and crashed it into a tree.
As officers approached him, one officer fired at the suspect. Police said the officers still have to be interviewed to find out exactly what led up to the shooting.
"The use of deadly force, which is the LAPD policy. Part of that would be that someone feels their life is in danger. There's also other instances where officers can use deadly force. Again, to this particular incident, those officers haven't been interviewed," Det. Meghan Aguilar of the LAPD said.
The suspect was listed in stable condition.
The carjacking victim was not hurt.
