Gunfire Wounds 2 as Robbers Barge In on Police Stakeout

A man who police said tried to rob a plainclothes Burbank police detective on a stakeout was in custody Tuesday after a shoot-out in which both men were slightly wounded.

Steven Frias, 21, of Los Angeles was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, Burbank Police Lt. Art Moody said.

On Monday, Frias and another man pulled up in a car behind Detective Doyle Holm at 11:25 p.m., Moody said. Holm, who was conducting a stakeout in a case not related to the two men, was sitting in his car in an alley in the 3900 block of Magnolia Boulevard, Moody said.

Frias stepped out of the car, produced a gun and demanded Holm’s wallet, Moody said. Holm identified himself as a police officer and drew his gun, and the two exchanged about six shots, Moody said.

Each man was shot once in the hand, he said.

Frias fled after the shooting, and the driver of the mid-1970s, burgundy Ford Granada in which Frias had arrived sped off. The driver was still at large Tuesday, Moody said.

Frias was captured after a search by officers from Burbank and Glendale, canine units from those departments and a Los Angeles County sheriff’s helicopter, Moody said. Officers in the helicopter crisscrossed the neighborhood with a searchlight, using a loudspeaker to urge the suspect to surrender, he said.

“They woke just about everybody up,” he said.

Burbank Officer Tom Kister followed a trail of blood to a vacant building in the 700 block of Hollywood Way, where he found Frias, Moody said. A .38-caliber revolver was hidden under a pile of rags in the building, he said.

Holm was treated at St. Joseph Medical Center and released, and Frias was treated at Burbank Community Hospital and transferred to the jail ward of County-USC Medical Center, where he was being held without bail, Moody said.