A night of gunfire involving the LAPD

Officers are fired on — but not injured — during incidents in Miracle Mile and Mission Hills. In Venice, police wound one man.
By Andrew Blankstein
Times Staff Writer

August 3, 2007

Los Angeles police were investigating three separate incidents that occurred early Thursday in which officers either shot at suspects or were fired on, authorities said.

No officers were hurt in the confrontations, which took place between 1:20 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. in the Miracle Mile, Mission Hills and Venice areas, police said.

In the first incident, a patrol officer attempted to pull over a red car carrying three people near 8th Street and Cloverdale Avenue, said Sgt. Lee Sands.

The driver suddenly took off, leading police on an erratic chase for several blocks before the trio bailed out and ran.

At one point, one of the three shot at police.

Police eventually arrested three suspects — two men and a woman — after setting up a containment area between Wilshire and Olympic boulevards and Dunsmuir and Sycamore avenues. They also recovered two guns from the scene.

Roy Ramos, 26, who police said is a member of a San Pedro-area gang, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder of a police officer. The other suspects face charges including possessing a firearm and pimping.

In an incident in the San Fernando Valley, officers responding to a shooting report at 3:25 a.m. encountered several men in the 8600 block of Columbus Avenue near Parthenia Street.

Two men began firing at two officers, striking the window of a vehicle next to their patrol car before fleeing. SWAT officers and police search dogs were called in, but authorities could not find the men, who had fled into a nearby apartment complex.

In the third incident, in Venice, Los Angeles police shot and wounded a man after responding to a call of drunk and disorderly conduct at 4:26 a.m. in the 3900 block of Moore Street.

Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell said officers saw the man sleeping inside a sport utility vehicle and tapped on the window. “As he stirred, the man tried to grab a rifle, resulting in an officer-involved shooting,” McDonnell said.

The unidentified man suffered wounds to a leg and an arm.

It was later determined that the weapon was a BB gun.