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Los Angeles police officers fired guns during the first half of 2025 more frequently while on duty than last year. This contrasts with a multi-year decline in city violent crimes, including other shootings and murders.
“There are few violent crimes committed in the city, but there are still a lot of shootings involving officers. In these shootings, our officers are mostly facing someone who is armed and offensive,” Chief Jim McDonnell said Tuesday.
There were 25 shootings involving officers between January 1st and July 15th, 2025, compared to 18 at the same time in 2024.
The most recent incident came Monday when officers shot a man in Boyle Heights, which appears to be armed with a rifle or submachine gun.
The man was killed and the weapon turned out to be an Airsoft or BB gun that looked like a firearm.
In recent weeks, there has been a July 5th shootout along West Avenue, with four other police shootings as officers were shot in the leg while chasing a man with a handgun.
The officer has recovered, and the man being pursued has been arrested and faced an attempted murder charge, police and prosecutors said.
McDonnell is said to have compared 15 of the 2025 shootings with guns and replica guns (7 are actual firearms and eight are facsimiles) to all 2024 firearms or replicas of firearms.
“At this point, it’s going to be difficult for officers to assess the threat,” McDonnell said. This challenge was explained by LAPD researchers as one of several factors that may lie behind this year’s increase.
He told the police commission at Tuesday’s meeting that officers did not use less deadly weapons in many of the 2025 shootings.
He said the shootings this year took place after officers responded to calls from the public for help rather than initiating an investigation or traffic stop.
The number of LAPD shootings has historically followed the city’s violent crime trend, leading to a surprising increase, according to former 2025 divisional executives.
Violent crime has declined for several years in Los Angeles and other major cities, with LAPD reporting a 30% drop in homicides in the first half of 2025.
The LA County Sheriff’s Department reported that lawmakers fired guns in six shots in the first half of 2025, compared to 12 in the same period in 2025.
LASD does not include shootings that will not injure anyone while LAPD is doing.
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