President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Sunday denounced what police called an ambush of two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and called for the attacker, who remains at large, to face heavy punishment.
The deputies remained in critical condition Sunday, according to the county sheriff’s department, which said they were shot Saturday night as they sat in their patrol vehicle in Compton. A video released by authorities shows a person walk up to a parked police car, fire a gun into the passenger-side window, then run away.
Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva takes questions at a late-night news conference on Saturday about the condition of two deputies in Compton, Calif. Authorities searched Sunday for a gunman who shot and wounded the deputies, who were sitting in their squad car, an apparent ambush that drew an angry response from the president and sparked an anti-police protest outside the hospital where the deputies were being treated. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department via AP
Police and elected officials have urged the community to come together in condemnation of the attack, which comes at a fraught time for law enforcement across the nation and in Los Angeles. Police agencies, including the sheriff’s department there, have faced mounting anger and demonstrations over deadly force deployed against people of color, and the sheriff’s department decried anti-police protesters who gathered at the hospital where the deputies were being treated.
Politicians local and national quickly expressed support for the officers, and the Justice Department offered their resources. In an early-morning tweet, Trump – who has campaigned on “law and order” – called for a forceful response.
“Animals that must be hit hard!” he said. Later Sunday morning, Trump tweeted of the officers: “If they die, fast trial death penalty for the killer. Only way to stop this!”
Biden also condemned the shooting.
“This cold-blooded shooting is unconscionable and the perpetrator must be brought to justice,” the former vice president tweeted Sunday morning. “Violence of any kind is wrong; those who commit it should be caught and punished. Jill and I are keeping the deputies and their loved ones in our hearts and praying for a full recovery.”
The injured deputies, a 31-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man, were sworn in 14 months ago, officials said at a news conference. Both suffered multiple gunshot wounds, according to authorities, and underwent surgery Saturday night.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva called the shooting a “cowardly act,” echoing Democratic Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer’s words earlier at the news conference. Jones-Sawyer called the deputies “heroes,” and Villanueva said the attack was a reminder of the tough and dangerous job facing law enforcement.
“Seeing somebody just walk up and start shooting on them, it’s – it pisses me off,” Villanueva said. “It dismays me at the same time.”
The deputies, part of a transportation detail, were shot just before 7 p.m. Saturday and radioed for help, according to the sheriff’s department. The shooter fled on foot. Capt. Kent Wegener said that despite video capturing the shooting, authorities have only a “very, very generic suspect description” provided by one of the wounded deputies: Identifying details captured through a “fisheye lens,” he said, are “going to be deceiving.”
A screen grab from a security camera video released the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department shows a gunman walking up to sheriff’s deputies and opening fire without warning or provocation in Compton, Calif., on Saturday. The sheriff’s department said the male and female deputies had multiple gunshot wounds and were undergoing surgery. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department via AP
More than a dozen homicide detectives were at the scene Saturday night, along with other specialists and district attorney staffers. Calling the shooting “evil in its purest form,” Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec tweeted that Attorney General William Barr is “monitoring the situation” and that his department will “use all federal tools available to assist in bringing anyone responsible to justice.”
The sheriff’s department said Sunday that no updates on the investigation were available.
Some leaders who responded with horror to the shooting noted the intense scrutiny facing law enforcement while expressing their support.
“Of course, there’s an important conversation going on about policing in this country, but these are folks who put their lives on the line for us, and we will find justice for them,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Sunday on CNN.
Police and protesters’ tactics drew scrutiny after demonstrations formed outside St. Francis Medical Center, where the deputies received treatment.
In tweets, the sheriff’s department described protesters “blocking the entrance & exit” of the hospital’s emergency room and urged people not to impede access, saying lives were at stake. It also announced the arrests of two people: a male protester who “refused to comply” after a dispersal order and a woman who it said “did not identify herself as press.”
Josie Huang, a reporter for local new organizations KPCC and LAist, was detained and cited on a charge of obstruction, according to LAist. Journalists quickly condemned the arrest as a violation of press rights, calling for the charge to be dropped, and LAist said video captures Huang identifying herself as a reporter while wearing a media credential on a lanyard.
Huang, a former reporter for the Portland Press Herald, tweeted Sunday morning that she had left jail, had seen the sheriff’s department’s tweets and had “thoughts and videos to share soon after a little rest.”
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