An ex-convict who was found guilty of assault and other charges for opening fire on a police patrol car in South Los Angeles, causing minor injuries to the two officers inside, was sentenced Monday to 162 years to life in state prison.
Malcolm Darnell Guss Jr., now 32, was convicted last month of two counts each of assault on a peace officer with a machine gun and being a felon with a firearm, along with one count each of shooting at an occupied vehicle and possession of a machine gun.
Jurors also found true allegations that Guss had personally discharged a firearm.
The panel, however, acquitted him of one count of attempted murder involving “a group of persons inside a Los Angeles Police Department patrol vehicle in the area of Broadway and 138th Street.”
The two uniformed patrol officers were shot at July 3, 2024, after attempting to stop the driver of a white, four-door Chevrolet sedan. The driver initially accelerate away from the officers, but stopped suddenly on Broadway, north of Rosecrans Avenue, the LAPD said in a statement last summer.
“Before officers could exit the police vehicle, the suspect, armed with a fully automatic weapon, fired at officers without warning,” according to the LAPD.
One of the officers — identified by the LAPD as Joshua Rodney — managed to return fire, authorities said.
The other injured officer was identified as Stefan Carutasu, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
After the shots were fired, the suspect drove off again. Officers attempted to follow for approximately 200 yards, but lost sight of the vehicle in the area of 135th Street and Broadway, police said.
Both officers suffered cuts and scratches from glass fragments caused by the suspect’s rounds. One officer suffered two graze wounds and both were taken to a hospital for treatment.
“During the ensuing investigation, police located and seized the Chevrolet sedan,” according to the LAPD’s statement. “Police also seized a firearm believed to have been involved in the crime.”
Guss was arrested just over a week later and has remained behind bars since then, jail records show.
Guss had seven prior convictions dating back as far as 2011 for crimes including burglary, attempted burglary and receiving stolen property, according to court papers filed by the prosecution.