A suspect who attacked an employee while being fingerprinted Friday afternoon at the sheriff’s Lakewood Station was wounded in a deputy-involved shooting, authorities said.
The shooting occurred about 12:50 p.m. at the station at 5130 Clark Ave., according to Deputy Marvin Crowder of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Information Bureau.
The suspect, a man who had been arrested on suspicion of driving a vehicle without the owner’s consent, and the female employee were taken to a hospital and were both expected to survive, according to the sheriff’s department.
Lt. John Corina of the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau told reporters at the scene the suspect punched the employee in the face, took her stun gun and pulled her by her hair into a locked cell. The employee, who was reported to have suffered a broken nose, activated an alarm alerting others in the station.
Deputies ordered the man to release the employee, but he refused. Pepper spray was used, but to no avail, Corina said.
“A couple of the deputies come into the jail with guns, but the jail door is locked, he shut it and locked it, so they have to get another jailer, get some keys, open that door,” he said. “Once they opened the door they ask him again to give up. He refuses, he points the Taser at them again and that’s when the deputy-involved shooting happens.”
The suspect was struck in the chest and arm and was in critical but stable condition, according to the sheriff’s department.