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Two Los Angeles police officers were injured and a suspect was taken into custody Friday night after a gunfight erupted while investigating a possible robbery in South Los Angeles, authorities said.
According to police, the incident occurred around 9 p.m. Friday when two officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Southeast Division responded to a report of a robbery in the 9200 block of Central Avenue.
At some point during the ensuing encounter, officers exchanged gunfire with the armed suspect, who fled the scene, police said. It was not immediately clear whether the suspect was hit.
A radio call for help prompted a massive police response in the unincorporated area north of Watts bordering Florence-Firestone, with officers from nearby departments also on the scene. Officers searched the area late into the night with a police K9. The suspect was found and arrested several hours later, police said.
The two officers, who were not named, were taken to the 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 suggests one officer suffered a graze wound to the leg and another was hit by shrapnel.
Police sources told the Times on Friday that both officers were conscious and talking when they arrived at the hospital. They were discharged from the hospital on Saturday morning.
Los Angeles Police Department records show LAPD officers have fired shots 24 times so far this year, compared to 32 during the same period in 2023.
According to a recent crime briefing by Los Angeles Police Department Interim Chief Dominic Choi, the Southeast region is among the areas in the city that are seeing an increase in robberies.
A Southeast police officer was injured in another police shootout in the area in July, during which a man allegedly fired a machine gun at a police squad. The man was later taken into custody and charged with attempted murder.
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