Man arrested after allegedly firing at deputies from burning apartment in Compton
A gunman was arrested Thursday morning after apparently opening fire at Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who had him surrounded as the apartment he was hiding in was engulfed in flames, officials said.
Shortly after 7:15 a.m., deputies responded to a call at an apartment complex in the 100 block of Acacia Avenue in Compton, where they found a man with a gunshot wound and determined that another man was hiding inside an apartment with a firearm, officials said. The man in the apartment opened fire on the deputies with a shotgun, officials said. With a special weapons team from the Sheriff’s Department’s special enforcement bureau and two armored vehicles surrounding the apartment, negotiators ordered the man to come out unarmed.
The suspect was arrested and taken to a hospital, Deputy Miguel Meza said.
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During negotiations with the gunman, deputies evacuated the apartment complex as a portion of it was engulfed in fire, officials said. Officials turned off the gas to the building, fearing an explosion. In one dramatic moment caught by TV news cameras, deputies used ladders to evacuate a woman through a window of an apartment.
The alleged shooter, with deputies in body armor on the complex balcony, came out unarmed and lay on the ground and was immediately handcuffed.
After the gunman was detained, Compton firefighters began tackling the fire as smoke continued to billow from the complex. The cause of the blaze was unclear.
The wounded man, whom Maza said was the victim of an accidental discharge inside the apartment, was taken to a hospital.
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