A man was wounded during an exchange of gunfire with police in the Jefferson Park community of South Los Angeles, authorities said Monday.
Officers were conducting an extra patrol at a liquor store near Jefferson Boulevard and Ninth Avenue at about 1:10 a.m. Sunday when they encountered a suspect armed with a firearm, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
“While inside the location, the officers made contact with an individual, later identified as 33-year-old Malik Salaah, who appeared to be concealing a firearm on his person,” according to a police statement. “As the officers attempted to detain Salaah, he removed a firearm from his waistband, resulting in an officer-involved shooting. Salaah fired multiple rounds at the officers while inside the store and as he exited, before fleeing on foot.”
A perimeter was established and Salaah was taken into custody about two blocks away on Seventh Avenue by a responding police unit. He was taken to a hospital, where he had stable vital signs.
No officers were injured. An unloaded 9mm handgun, a slide lock with a seated high-capacity magazine, was recovered at the scene and booked as evidence, police said.
Salaah was subsequently arrested on suspicion of attempted murder of a peace officer.