A sexual assault suspect wanted by Fullerton police was in custody Monday after he was fired on by Los Angeles police officers outside Paramount Studios in Hollywood before barricading himself inside a building on the lot for about 90 minutes, during which he stabbed himself, authorities said.
The man had been under surveillance in the area by Fullerton police conducting a sexual assault investigation on Sunday night, said Fullerton police Cpl. Billy Phu.
The suspect, whose name was not released, was being treated at a hospital, and had not been booked as of about 9:30 Monday morning, Phu told City News Service.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, Fullerton officers attempted to arrest the suspect about 10 p.m. Sunday, and he produced a knife and officers used a Taser on him.
When the Taser did not subdue the suspect, the officers called for help from LAPD officers, who fired 40 mm rubber bullets and beanbags “which were also ineffective,” according to an LAPD statement.
The officers then turned their guns at the suspect at the Melrose gate to the Paramount lot about 10:45 p.m. and the suspect ran into the lot and barricaded himself inside a building, police said.
Officers attempted to negotiate with the suspect to surrender but they wound up entering the building and taking him into custody about 12:15 Monday morning.
The suspect was bleeding from his self-inflicted wounds and was transported to a hospital for treatment, police said. No officers were injured.
“What we know this morning that we didn’t know last night is that the wounds that the individual was suffering from when we saw the blood were self-inflicted stab wounds, and those were done during that time period when our officers were trying to negotiate him to surrender,” LAPD Detective Meghan Aguilar told KTLA5.
During the standoff, LAPD warned on Twitter that there was heavy police activity in the vicinity of the 5500 block of Melrose and urged people who live in the area to stay indoors and for non-residents to stay away.
The studio was evacuated and locked down — there were not many people around on a Sunday night — as officers looked from the air and ground to confirm whether the suspect was barricaded inside a building near the iconic water tower.