LOS ANGELES _ Authorities on Tuesday are continuing to search for a man suspected of shooting a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy in the head in a Jack in the Box in Alhambra.
The deputy, a 13-year veteran of the department, was waiting for his meal at the fast-food restaurant on Valley Boulevard on Monday night when he was attacked, authorities said.
"Whomever carried out this cowardly attack; we won't rest until we find you and ensure justice is brought swiftly upon you," Sheriff Alex Villanueva wrote on Twitter late Monday.
The deputy was rushed to County-USC Medical Center and remains in critical condition as of Tuesday morning. The deputy's name has not been released.
Given the circumstances of the attack, detectives are investigating whether the deputy was targeted by the suspect. He was off duty and wearing plain clothes with no holster, badge or anything to signify he was a law enforcement officer, Capt. Kent Wegener said at a news conference Monday night.
Authorities have not been able to determine a specific motive in the shooting, which was captured on video, Wegener said.
"There doesn't appear to be an overt motive," he said. "There is no audio to the video, so we don't know if there were words exchanged. At this point we are interviewing witnesses that were at the scene and reviewing evidence... at the scene."
The suspect was wearing jeans, a button-down short-sleeved shirt, a fedora and sunglasses in the Jack in the Box, but changed his clothing in a nearby neighborhood after the shooting. A residential security camera captured an image of him, authorities said.
The suspect is described as a man in his 20s, between 5 foot 9 and 5 foot 11, believed to be wearing a black T-shirt and black pants. He left the scene in a 2006 Kia Sportage, or similar model, with paper plates.
At Monday night's news conference, Wegener said anyone hiding the man could face serious consequences.
"It's time to turn him in," Wegener said. "You don't want to be associated with this man, and the Sheriff's Department is going to spare no resources to locate this suspect."
Anyone with information about this incident is being asked to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.
