Man Holds Group of Citizens at Gunpoint NR11497an

November 2, 2011

UPDATE

The officer involved in the below shooting which occurred on October 23, 2011 has been identified as Police Officer II Nicolas Chacon, 4 years and 10 months with the Department.

***UPDATE***
October 24, 2011

The suspect has been identified as 22-year-old Carlos Escobedo.  He was booked for Assault with a Deadly Weapon (Firearm) and is being held on $50,000 bail.

Los Angeles: A man pointing a handgun at a group of citizens in a restaurant parking lot resulted in an Officer Involved Shooting that left the suspect injured.

On Sunday, October 23rd, around 2:50 a.m., officers from Newton Division were driving near the intersection of Broadway and Vernon Avenue when they observed a group causing a disturbance inside the restaurant located at the corner of Vernon and Broadway. The Officers immediately responded to the location to investigate the activity.  As one officer approached the rear parking lot on foot he observed a man pointing a handgun at a group of citizens who were also in the parking lot, and at that moment an officer involved shooting occurred. The suspect sustained a grazing wound to his leg and was taken into custody without further incident. Officers did recover a gun at the scene. The suspect was treated at scene by LAFD Paramedics for his injuries and transported to Newton police station. Four additional suspects were also detained and transported to Newton station for further investigation.

The suspect armed with the gun was described as a male Hispanic approximately 22 years of age. The four additional suspects were also male Hispanics in their 20’s.

No officers were injured during the incident.

The LAPD Force Investigation Division responded to the incident and will conduct a thorough investigation of the officer-involved shooting and all related crimes.

The investigation will ultimately be reviewed by the Chief of Police, the Office of the Inspector General and Board of Police Commissioners for compliance with the Department’s use-of-force policy which states that an officer’s use-of-force actions must be objectively reasonable.

Additionally, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Justice System Integrity Division will conduct a comprehensive review of the facts of the officer-involved shooting.