A woman was shot and killed Tuesday by her son in front of other family members and firefighters who had just doused a blaze at a Harbor-Gateway area home, then ran back inside and held authorities at bay before being taken to a hospital with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, a police captain said.
Firefighters sent to the 15400 block of South Orchard Avenue about 4:30 a.m. put out the flames in the two-story structure in 12 minutes and summoned the American Red Cross to assist four adults and a child displaced by the fire.
The woman and her son — identified by police as 27-year-old Jose Ramirez — were outside the damaged home with firefighters when they argued and she asked them to arrest the man, who told them he wanted to go back inside to get some personal items, according to Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Peter Whittingham.
“The son at that time went back inside the residence,” Whittingham said. “They believed he was going to retrieve personal effects, and he was allowed to do so. He came back out, armed with a firearm, and shot his mother multiple times in the head.”
Firefighters ran for cover and were not injured, an LAFD spokesman said.
Ramirez, meanwhile, ran back inside the residence. A SWAT team was sent to the scene and LAPD officers were placed on a citywide Tactical Alert as a precaution, meaning officers could be kept on the job beyond the end of their shifts.
About 6:30 a.m., Ramirez was taken into custody with what police described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was hospitalized in critical condition.
The name of his mother, who was in her 60s, was withheld pending family notification.