SANTA CLARITA (AP) — A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy and a suspect were both shot and wounded in a gun battle late Tuesday, authorities said.
Deputies were called to an apartment complex in Santa Clarita — about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from Los Angeles — after a woman reported that two men walked up to her car as she was parking the vehicle. One of them pointed a gun at her, sheriff’s officials said in a news release Wednesday.
When the deputies began searching the apartment complex shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday, one of the suspects fired a handgun toward them and the deputies returned fire, officials said.
One of the deputies was shot in the neck and was released from the hospital Wednesday, Sheriff Jim McDonnell said.
“We are so thankful it worked out the way it did,” McDonnell told reporters, wishing the deputy a speedy recovery.
A 29-year-old suspect was shot in the torso and was undergoing surgery Wednesday. Authorities said earlier that he was in critical condition.
The suspect, whose name wasn’t immediately released, is a “documented gang member” who is on parole and had been released from state prison about a month ago, McDonnell said.
Investigators said they were also continuing to question a juvenile who they detained after the shooting “to ascertain his involvement in the incident,” but he has not been arrested. A handgun was recovered at the scene.