The Los Angeles Police Department Wednesday released the name of an officer from its Devonshire Division who shot and wounded a man who allegedly held his girlfriend at gunpoint and fired a shot at her during a confrontation in Northridge.
The shooting occurred around 2 a.m. Sunday in front of a home in the 8900 block of Balcom Avenue, north of Parthenia Street and west of White Oak Avenue, according to the LAPD.
Officers responded to a report of a fight at the home after a caller reported hearing an argument and a woman crying, police said.
“Upon officers’ arrival, they saw the suspect, later identified as Louis Jordan Cortez, in the front yard of the residence, armed with a handgun, and holding a female victim, later determined to be his girlfriend, hostage,” according to an LAPD statement, which said that during the incident, Cortez allegedly fired a shot at the woman.
Cortez refused to drop the handgun and continued struggling with the woman before Officer Lauren Irwin opened fire, striking the suspect, police said.
After being wounded, Cortez did not give up, but instead remained in the front yard “until officers negotiated his surrender.”
Cortez was taken to a hospital by Los Angeles Fire Department personnel, police said. He was treated for a gunshot wound and will be booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon once he is medically cleared, police said.
No one else was injured.
The LAPD’s Force Investigation Division was investigating the shooting.