Deputy Wounds Teen-Age Gunman

A sheriff’s deputy investigating reports of a disturbance at a Lawndale motel shot and seriously wounded a 17-year-old gunman Tuesday night after allegedly overhearing the youth threaten to kill his girlfriend.

The deputy was called to the Comfort Inn on Hawthorne Boulevard shortly before midnight after a security guard reported a problem in one of the rooms where a party was taking place, said Sheriff’s Deputy George Ducoulombier of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau.

“When he arrived, he went to the room where he could hear arguing, and he heard a man say he was going to kill the woman with whom he was arguing,” Ducoulombier said. When the deputy saw the gun, he ordered the youth to freeze, but instead, the youth pointed his revolver at the deputy, Ducoulombier said. The deputy fired a shot, wounding the youth in the stomach, he said.

The Los Angeles youth, whose name was withheld because of his age, was in serious but stable condition at Los Angeles County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. When his condition improves, he will be booked for assault with a deadly weapon, Ducoulombier said.