A graphic photo published on Sunday shows two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies moments after they were shot in an ambush on their parked patrol car the previous night in Compton, California.
The image: One of the deputies can be seen standing with her uniform soaked in blood while her patrol partner kneels behind a pillar, also visibly bleeding.
Fox 11 Los Angeles reported that the sheriff’s department and the deputies’ families allowed the still image, taken from surveillance video, to be broadcast “to demonstrate the severity of what happened and what those two deputies endured.”
- The department has yet to release the names of the deputies but said the woman is a 31-year-old mother of a 6-year-old boy and the man is a 24 years old.
- Both deputies were sworn into office just 14 months ago and were members of the sheriff’s transportation detail, the department said.
The attack: Additional surveillance footage released by the department shows a man walking up from behind the deputies’ patrol car at around 7 p.m. near a Metro rail station.
- The man pulls out a gun and fires several times into the front seat area from the passenger side before running from the scene.
- “The gunman walked up on the deputies and opened fire without warning or provocation,” the department tweeted.
Fox 11 reporter Bill Melugin said on Twitter the female deputy was shot through the jaw but still managed to radio for help and apply a tourniquet to her patrol partner’s wounds.
- The Los Angeles Times reported one of the deputies was shot in the face and the other was shot in the head.
- The deputies were recovering in stable condition on Sunday after being rushed into surgery in critical condition.
The reaction: Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, speaking at a press conference at the hospital on Sunday, called the condition of the deputies a “double miracle.”
- “The two deputies were ambushed by a gunman in a cowardly fashion. This is a dangerous job,” he said. “Every week across the nation someone is losing their life in the line of duty. This is just another grim reminder of that.”
- Authorities launched a massive manhunt for the unidentified gunman and offered a $100,000 reward.
Other local and national leaders joined Villanueva in condemning the shooting, which came amid protests against racism and policing in the Los Angeles area and nationwide.
- President Donald Trump on Saturday night shared the video of the ambush on Twitter and commented: “Animals that must be hit hard.”
- Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Sunday tweeted: “This cold-blooded shooting is unconscionable and the perpetrator must be brought to justice.”
Meanwhile, though, some critics of law enforcement justified the shooting.
- At least one bystander appeared to celebrate the attack in real time.
- A handful of protesters gathered at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, California, while the wounded deputies were being treated inside and shouted comments like, “I hope they f*cking die.”
- And Jose Ometeotl, the city manager of Lynwood, which neighbors Compton on the southern border of downtown Los Angeles, said on Sunday in an Instagram post, “Chickens Come Home to Roost.”
