The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) ended an eight- hour perimeter search today for a suspect linked to a non-injury attack on a patrol car and also lifted a tactical alert that had kept officers working past the end of their shifts, police said.
“The perimeter is cleared,” said LAPD Officer Nuria Vanega at about 5:55 a.m. “They were unable to locate the suspect.”
The tactical alert was also lifted, at around 5:45 a.m. allowing officers to resume normal duties and for those kept beyond their scheduled shifts to leave, said Officer R. Coates of the LAPD’s 77th Street Station.
The shots were fired at 62nd and Hoover streets at 9:23 p.m. Sunday, said Sgt. J. Shray of the LAPD’s 77th Street Station.
“A couple of officers were rolling down the street when they observed the muzzle of a rifle firing in their direction,” Shray said. “They responded to the muzzle flash.”
The officers located and arrested one suspect and recovered a rifle, he said. A second suspect was believed at large.
A citywide tactical alert was issued after every available officer was called to the area where the shots were fired, Shray said. That was later modified to affect only the southwest area stations of 77th Street, Southwest, Southeast and Harbor. A tactical alert allows officers to be kept on duty after the scheduled conclusion of their shifts.
A perimeter was set up from Gage Avenue to 61st Street and between Hoover Street and Vermont Avenue, Shray said. Residents were ordered to stay inside their homes.
It was not known whether the suspect being sought has a rifle but he is presumed to be armed and dangerous, Shray said.
On Dec. 20, two New York City police officers were assassinated while siting in a patrol car in Brooklyn by a man who said he was exacting revenge for the death of black men killed by police in Staten Island and in Ferguson, Missouri, and who later shot himself to death.
