LOS ANGELES — Two Southern California police officers were fatally shot after responding to a motel on a report of a stabbing, and the suspect was also killed, officials said.
The deadly encounter happened around 4:47 p.m. in El Monte, a city east of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.
El Monte police responded to a motel on a report of a possible stabbing. When they contacted the suspect at the motel room there was a shooting that involved police, sheriff’s homicide Capt. Andrew Meyer said.
The suspect then fled the motel room and there was a second shooting also involving police in the parking lot, Meyer said.
The two officers who were wounded were taken to a hospital, where they died Tuesday evening, Meyer said.
The suspect was also shot and died at the scene, he said.
More details about the exact sequence of events were not clear. Meyer said that a gun was recovered at the scene near the suspect.
“It’s extremely early in the investigation, so we don’t have all the facts yet,” Meyer said.
There did not appear to be a stabbing, he said. Investigators were interviewing a woman believed to be the suspect’s girlfriend.
The city said in a statement that the officers “immediately took gunfire upon arrival.”
The officers who were killed and the suspect were not immediately identified.
One of the slain officers was described as a veteran with at least 22 years experience and the other was said to be a new officer with less than a year on the job.
“They were good men,” said El Monte Capt. Ben Lowry, the acting chief of police.
El Monte has its own police department but the investigation into the deadly encounter, which involves shootings involving police, is being headed by the sheriff’s department.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
