LAPD officers injured during attack inside Harbor Division station in San Pedro, according to police
A police officer who was injured at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Harbor Station in San Pedro on Saturday night was expected to recover.
A Los Angeles police officer suffered a head injury when he was attacked by an assailant Saturday night inside the Harbor Division police station in San Pedro, authorities said.
City Councilman Joe Buscaino, who represents the 15th Council District, told CBS2 that the officer suffered a graze wound. “The officer’s going to be fine.”
He told the station from the hospital where the officer was being treated that the incident is “another reminder of the danger of police work.”
The LAPD said on Twitter that there had been an “officer-involved shooting,” but did not clarify further. However, NBC journalist Andrew Blankstein tweeted that law enforcement sources said the injury to the officer “was from being pistol whipped not a shooting. Shot was fired by officer at suspect amid altercation with officer.”
“Some individual came into the Harbor station, and when an officer went to speak with him, some type of confrontation occurred where we believe an officer was disarmed,” said LAPD Chief Michel Moore, who was on his way to the hospital where the officer was being treated.
Moore said the officer was “stable and is going to survive.” The exact nature of the injury was unclear, he said.
Assistant Police Chief Horace Frank said the watch commander at the station heard the commotion and came out, when he saw the assailant was hitting the officer and had taken his gun. Frank said the watch commander fired his gun at the suspect, who then fled.
The suspect jumped into a car with a second man and was captured after a short pursuit, Frank said. It does not appear the suspect was hit by the watch commander’s gunfire, he said. The LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division is investigating the incident.
Mayor Eric Garcetti tweeted his support for the injured officer Saturday night. Sending my best wishes for a quick and complete recovery to your @LAPDHQ officer who was injured in an incident tonight at Harbor Station. The officer is in stable condition and we are closely monitoring the situation. "In recent times there have been other violent incidents with local law enforcement officials.
On Friday, police said an off-duty LAPD officer was shot at in his car in Reseda by an unknown suspect with a handgun. The officer’s vehicle was struck, but the officer was not injured. That incident remains under investigation.
Saturday’s shooting also comes two weeks after two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies were shot while sitting in a patrol vehicle in Compton.
The two deputies survived but suffered serious injuries. Video shows the gunman fire at them at close range before fleeing, then the deputies exit the vehicle and try to take cover behind a column as they call for backup.
The latest shooting also follows a summer of intense protests over police brutality against Black people, in L.A. and around the country, including large demonstrations in which police and protesters have clashed.
Protests have continued in recent days. On Thursday night, protests in Hollywood were interrupted when a large truck and then a Prius drove through the crowd. The driver of the pickup truck hit a woman, sending her flying onto Sunset Boulevard before she was transferred to the hospital.
