Warning: Video is disturbing.
A gunman stepped up to a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department vehicle, and opened fire, as seen on video. Two deputies were injured, according to officials. The incident happened at approximately 7 a.m. on Saturday at the Compton terminal of the MTA Blue Line, Sheriff Alex Villanueva told reporters at a press conference.
“This was an unprovoked, cowardly act,” said Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-District 59), chair of the Committee of Public Safety.
The victims were transported to St. Francis Medical Center, said LASD Captain Kent Wegener. He said they had a “very, very generic suspect description of a dark-skinned male.”
The deputies suffered from multiple gunshot wounds, and were out of surgery, Villanueva said. He did not say where they were struck. The sheriff described the female deputy as the 31-year-old mother of a six-year-old boy, and the male deputy as a 24-year-old man. He swore them into office 14 months ago, he said.
At least one of the victims was shot in the face, and the other was struck in the head, said law enforcement sources cited by The Los Angeles Times.
The aftermath of the incident was on edge, as a number of demonstrators showed up to the hospital.
Deputies said they arrested a male adult protester at the hospital after he did not comply with a dispersal order. They claimed a woman ran at them, and ignored their commands to stay back.
148 P.C. is the law for resisting arrest. The woman was identified elsewhere as LAist reporter Josie Huang.
LAist contended with the version of events from deputies. LASD Spokesperson Deputy Juanita Navarro said Huang “didn’t have proper credentials,” but an article from outlet reporters Frank Stoltze and Aaron Mendelson stated “she was clearly wearing press credentials around her neck.” In a thread, Huang said she was attempting to document the arrest of a protester.
Update – September 14, 2020, 12:10 a.m.: Added tweets regarding Huang’s point of view, and video of her arrest. Meanwhile, the search for the shooter of the two deputies is ongoing.
[Screengrab via Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department]