LOS ANGELES _ A Los Angeles police officer and a suspect were wounded during a shooting in El Segundo early Thursday, authorities said.
The shooting occurred near Aviation and El Segundo boulevards during a search for a homicide suspect, said Tony Im, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department.
A Los Angeles police SWAT team and other officers were serving four warrants as part of their investigation into a gang-related homicide on March 31 in South Los Angeles, Chief Charlie Beck told reporters Thursday afternoon.
Officers were serving a warrant in South L.A. when a male suspect fled, leading officers on a pursuit that ended in El Segundo, where the shooting took place, Beck said. The suspect jumped out of his vehicle and ran through a residential complex.
A male SWAT officer was shot in the hip and was in the hospital in stable condition, police said.
According to an internal LAPD alert, Beck had been to the hospital and said the officer was "doing well and expecting a speedy recovery." The chief told reporters that the injured officer's wife, who is also an LAPD officer, was with him at the hospital.
The suspect was shot, although the seriousness of the injuries was unclear, authorities said. He was undergoing surgery Thursday morning, police said.
The suspect was the only person in the car that was chased by police, Beck said.
Beck described the shootout as a "gunfight" between the suspect and police. Investigations are looking at three separate scenes where shots were fired.
Television news footage showed police activity in the circular driveway of a large residential complex in El Segundo.
Neighbors told a reporter for the Los Angeles Times they heard at least 15 gunshots. They heard helicopters, then sirens, then gunshots.
"It was like a gun battle," said one 37-year-old resident who would not give her name.
Police closed off a portion of Aviation Boulevard with yellow police tape. Marked and unmarked police vehicles filled the block as a helicopter circled overhead.
Multiple law enforcement agencies, including the LAPD, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and El Segundo Police Department were present.
Anthony Samadani, who lives at the Three Sixty at South Bay housing complex, near where the shooting took place, was at home with his 2-year-old child and mother-in-law when he got an email blast from the building's management at 10:04 a.m. saying it was under lockdown.
"Confirmed report of shooter in custody; one officer down and being treated," said another email at 10:33 a.m. "Due to officer shooting, most of 360 is now a crime scene; access in or out of the community is not likely to be permitted for several hours."
Just after 10 a.m., Justin Sinclair's phone buzzed with text messages and emails saying a police officer had been shot in front of his home. His roommates told him they heard 20 shots.
Sinclair, a 35-year-old hair stylist, rushed home from a client's residence in Hermosa Beach to his neighborhood, where he was stuck outside for more than an hour, unable to get inside his apartment. Police told him he couldn't go inside for eight hours, he said. Meanwhile, his roommates are stuck in there.
"I ran five red lights coming here," Sinclair said. "I was scared."
He was upset he couldn't get in.
"My weed's inside," he said. "My food. There's so much stuff in my house that I need."
Beck said investigators will likely be at the scene for the most of the day.
The LAPD declared a citywide tactical alert after the shooting as a precaution, Im said. Such alerts allow the department to have more officers and resources on hand.
The Los Angeles airport police said traffic near LAX was being affected by the investigation and advised drivers to avoid the area.
