Gunman shoots two deputies in LA County, protesters block ambulances

September 13, 2020

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

Authorities are searching for a male suspect who ambushed, shot and severely wounded two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies outside a Metro station in Compton Saturday evening, a near fatal incident that kicked off a bizarre chain of overnight events.

Video footage released by the LA County Sheriff’s Department shows a gunman walking up to a patrol SUV, firing shots through the passenger-side window and running away. LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said at a press conference Saturday night the shooting was unprovoked.

“It seems to be part of a growing trend where suspects open fire unprovoked,” Villanueva said.

Both deputies suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Both were alert when they arrived at the hospital, where they then underwent surgery.

One of the injured deputies is a 31-year-old woman, who is the mother of a 6-year-old boy. The other deputy is a 24-year-old man, Villanueva said.

The sheriff described the suspect as a dark-skin male.

Saturday night’s shooting prompted a string of events, in which anti-law enforcement protesters arrived at the hospital and allegedly blocked the emergency room entrance, and sheriff’s deputies later tackled and arrested a prominent Los Angeles-area journalist.

With the wounded deputies receiving treatment inside St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, a group of protesters gathered outside the hospital and heckled law enforcement. Video shows protesters gathered on the sidewalk in front of the entrance and exit to the emergency room parking lot.

“To the protesters blocking the entrance and exit of the hospital emergency room yelling, ‘We hope they die,’ referring to two LA sheriff’s deputies ambushed today in Compton: do not block emergency entries and exits to the hospital,” the sheriff’s department tweeted. “People’s lives are at stake when ambulances can’t get through.”

Later, the sheriff’s department declared an unlawful assembly and issued a dispersal order for the group of protesters blocking the emergency room entrance and exit. One adult male protester refused to comply, a struggle ensued and the man was arrested, according to the sheriff’s department.

During the struggle, a woman later determined to be journalist Josie Huang, ran toward the deputies. Huang ignored repeated commands to stand back as deputies struggled with the protester, interfered with the arrest and did not identify herself as press, the sheriff’s department tweeted. Huang later admitted she did not have proper press credentials on her at the time.

Deputies arrested both the protester and Huang on a resisting or obstructing an officer charge. Huang is a reporter for the Los Angeles NPR station KPCC, as well as for the news publication LAist. She was reporting on the protest outside the hospital at the time of her arrest.

Huang’s arrest prompted outcry and demands for immediate release and an explanation as to why deputies arrested a journalist. Early Sunday morning, Huang tweeted that she had been released from county jail.

Saturday’s shooting, as well as the subsequent protest and arrests, occurred amid daily demonstrations in South Los Angeles over the death of Dijon Kizzee, whom sheriff’s deputies shot and killed on Aug. 31. Also earlier this week, deputies shot and killed a suspect in Compton who allegedly opened fire on them.

Huang had been covering the anti-sheriff’s department protests in South LA as recently as Saturday afternoon.

Protesters have railed against the sheriff’s department for its use of force in recent day while clearing out demonstrators from an area near the department’s South LA station. The sheriff’s department has alleged anarchists and outside agitators have been instigating nighttime clashes with deputies.

President Donald Trump weighed in on the events in Los Angels County, retweeting the video of the shooting and stating, “Animals that must be hit hard!”

“If they die, fast trial death penalty for the killer. Only way to stop this!” Trump tweeted.

Trump also retweeted the sheriff’s department command for protesters to stop blocking the entrance and exit to the hospital.


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This may possibly be “anti government activities”? Or?

Very confused by all this


I’m late to this chat… but CNN just reported there were “five or six” of these reprehensible people and only one was heard to do most of shouting. Refute only if you have proof to the contrary. This story spends more talking about this anomaly than the deputies’ shootings. Back in the day reporters would just ignore these idiots. The jerks are not the news.


Agreeable ignore the loons


They are not protesters, they are rioters. Riot, in criminal law, a violent offense against public order involving three or more people. Blocking emergency room access is a violent offense. Protesters are peaceful and rioters are not. (Call it how it is, Josh. This is not the time to sugarcoat.) Time for the Sheriffs to deputize their Posses. Why isn’t anyone going after George Soros if he’s paying these rioters? FBI? Anyone?


Well, the usual caliber of comments here. Post has absolutely nothing to do with the mayor of SLO, yet someone is ragging on her in this post, ala Adam Hill. Who everybody shed crocodile tears for when he proved unable to handle the level of venom. And of coarse the comments about the “left” who are at fault because the Constitution grants us the right to protest, apparently. Oh yes, and the media is all “liberal” now. Ha! This country wouldn’t recognize a liberal media, because we have almost none. Basically one has to be listening to conspiracy theories from Fascist outlets to be acceptable to some people.


Obviously they never listened to how their hero spoke of the 5 innocent Black men who were arrested in New York for a rape that they did not commit. He was literally screaming for their execution before they had any due process and paid lots of money to get himself into the media carrying on about how he WANTED people to “hate them!!!’ Based on no proof at all. But, they were Black. So, apparently that was enough. And you guys are fine with right wing extremists swaggering around with semi-automatics, even shooting people in the back, which is fine, I guess. Because “All 17 year olds do stupid things”, as one of your apologists said recently about that event. I would argue that most 17 year old guys don’t commit homicide with premeditated intent. Why else do you bring a semi-automatic and shoot someone in the back? And, please bear in mind that even thought he possessed the firearm illegally, crossed the state line with it illegally and was threatening the public with the weapon, the local LE encouraged him.


But let a LEO get shot and suddenly they are all heroes and could do no wrong, well, unless it was Cantrell, then ANYTHING she did was wrong. But she is a woman, so that is different, I guess. We all know a percentage of them commit unacceptable acts, but that does not suit the “anti-left” narrative. .


We have no idea why this person acted as they did. It has been happening to LEOs for as long as we have had them. Perhaps it would be best to have some idea of the motive before shooting off about the incident like an expert. The last execution of LE I heard about was in Oakland, where a FAR RIGHT EXTREMIST gunned down a Fed and a local LEO during a BLM protest because they have it in for the government, are trying to start a civil war and thought they could make it look like BLM’s fault. But they were caught on camera and so apologies to BLM were in order.


I had a retired LEO friend, a member of the first SWAT team in San Francisco, who had this very thing happen to him a long time ago. He survived with a bullet in his brain that couldn’t be removed. Lived many years after that. The attack was likely the result of the “drug war” going on at the time. The CIA was bringing a lot of cocaine into our country that was ending up on the streets of Black neighborhoods. Compton was one of the places hard hit by that operation. We are still suffering from the displaced people from South America who now have terrible crime because of our presence there, who are trying to relocate here. And we are still living with the consequences to the Black neighborhoods that have never healed, as demonstrated by this incident.


This is hardly a one sided situation. We are all Americans. The sooner we face our problems, the sooner we solve them. Together, or not at all.


Here here. I would have said the same but it would fall on folks whoms ears are plugged with non scholastic upbringing whom binge on Alex Jones and the like.


I wouldn’t put people on pedastils aye caramba, because they fall off them. Equality for all, in a very unequal, authoritative, sexist racist world. I wish you peace and love buddy.


Alex who?


Alex Jones, InfoWars, the political rabble rouse that motivated the kid, and his mother, to bring an assault rifle to Kenosha, Wisconsin. Thus having the 17 year old “possess an assault rifle illegally, crossing the state line with it illegally, and threatening the public with the weapon illegally. The local officers offered encouragement, water and snacks.


Both out of the academy for only 14 months, in a hell-hole like Compton, at night. Is that common?


Yeah, it is, and they make way less. You work your way up to be a Cantrell or Parkinson where there is zero oversight.


Because Parkinson wasn’t elected or anything…


Still waiting for elections to be really fair, when we have a “None of the Above” option, and if that gets the most votes it means the voters don’t want any of the current choices and to go back have different people run and see if any of them can get the most votes.


I have been saying that since I watched Brewster’s Millions in 1985 with Richard Pryor. I would have picked that option for many elections because I refuse to vote for ‘the lesser of the two evils’.


This is not the first time in recent history where LEO’s have been ambushed. What is different is that the stupid left ( and yes it is completely their fault here) have empowered expressions of hate SO vile that they defy any logical form of decency. Blocking ambulances, spewing hatred towards the injured speaks to an evil SO vile, it’s almost inconceivable. It starts with the chanting and dancing “no justice , no peace f_k the police” creating a trendy expression to demean a class of humans . It’s NOT ok to combat hatred with more hatred. NEVER. It goes downhill from there. The liberal media own this also. It’s OK to make a “victim” of the male who kicked a SLOPD in the groin, foolish move Tribune. BLM has crossed too many lines. It is a Hate Group now in my book. They own this.


The stupid left….

I guess its easier to lump all different mindsets into one group and try to neatly pigeon hole everyones political diversity.

Its all black or white or my way or the highway baby!

Thats the true definition of stupidity.


Agreed. Make manslaughter politics, sad.


That shooter is either a kid or a dwarf.


This has got to stop. Law enforcement is the second to last line of defense against anarchy. We need to back the blue all the time.


Was Heidi Harmon there, too?