A shirtless, machete-wielding suspect was shot and critically injured by police outside UCI Health in Los Alamitos Wednesday, prompting a lockdown at the medical facility.
The shooting occurred shortly before midday Wednesday in the 3700 block of Katella Avenue, following a pursuit involving the Long Beach Police Department.
According to LBPD, the pursuit started with a road-rage incident involving a paramedic vehicle that was transporting a patient just after 10 a.m. After the suspect vehicle was tracked down, the driver bailed and ran away and officers established a perimeter and dispatched a SWAT team, police said.
The shooting at Cherry Street and Katella Avenue involved the Los Alamitos Police Department but not the LBPD, authorities said.
Video from the scene posted on the Citizen app showed a man wearing sunglasses and shorts, but no shirt, pacing outside a building near the medical center and carrying a large machete. Numerous police officers were positioned nearby with weapons drawn. The suspect began to flee when officers opened fire, apparently deploying less-than-lethal rounds in an effort to subdue him.
Robert Acosta of the Los Alamitos Police Department told KTLA5 at the scene that police initially tried to “de-escalate” the situation with crisis negotiators, but those efforts were unsuccessful. Police then deployed less-than-lethal rounds, which “aggravated him and caused him to start running in the direction of officers carrying a machete.”
“The officers went ahead and fired shots at the suspect, wounding him critically,” Acosta told the station.
The suspect was hospitalized in critical condition.
The UCI Health facility was placed on lockdown during the police activity, but there were no immediate reports of any other injuries beyond the suspect.
UCI Health issued the following statement:
“Caring for patients is our top priority at UCI Health – Los Alamitos. We are actively monitoring police activity in the area. UCI Health co-workers and patients are safe. Patient care remains uninterrupted.”