An off-duty Los Angeles police officer shot and wounded a man who allegedly exchanged gunfire with the officer during a carjack attempt Monday morning in the Montecito Heights area.
The officer wasn’t injured in the 2:40 a.m. encounter in the 500 block of Wheeling Way, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
According to an LAPD statement, the officer was near his personal vehicle, which was parked legally at the curbside, when he saw the suspect coming toward him.
“The suspect demand the key’s to the officer’s vehicle in an attempt to carjack the vehicle. The officer saw that the suspect was armed with a semi- automatic handgun, and an exchange of gunfire occurred.”
The wounded suspect, later identified as 23-year-old Joshua Villavicencio, was taken into custody by responding officers and a handgun was recovered at the scene, police said.
Firefighters took Villavicencio, who was to be booked on suspicion of attempted murder, to a hospital where he was listed in critical but stable condition, according to LAPD Officer Mike Lopez.
Villavicencio’s bail was set at $1 million, according to sheriff’s online inmate records.
—City News Service