Shot LAPD officer expected to fully recover; one suspect arrested

The Los Angeles police officer shot during a seemingly routine pedestrian stop on Thursday underwent surgery and is expected to make a full recovery, a hospital official said. 

Police said they had recovered the gun likely used in the shooting and arrested one man on suspicion of being involved in the attack.  At least one other suspect was still being sought.

Following surgery Friday morning to repair bullet wounds to his right hand, the officer was “alert and awake” and “in good spirits,” said Dr. Gudata Hinika, chief of trauma at California Hospital Medical Center.  The officer, Hinika said, is expected to be discharged on Saturday and faces months of intensive physical therapy before returning to work.

The Times is withholding the name of the officer, who has been in the LAPD for seven years, at the request of police officials, who are continuing to assess whether releasing his name would jeopardize the safety of him or his family.

The shooting took place about 2:45 p.m. Thursday as the officer and his partner, driving an unmarked police vehicle, investigated a rash of car burglaries in the Hyde Park neighborhood, said police Chief Charlie Beck.  Driving along Western Avenue near 70^th Street, the officers, who were uniformed, stopped their car to question two men.  As the officers approached, one of the men pulled out a handgun and opened fire.

The wounded officer was struck twice in the torso and would have been seriously injured had he not been wearing a ballistics vest that absorbed the impact of the bullets.  A third bullet struck him in the hand and wrist.