Local News in Brief : Officer Shot by Accident
A Los Angeles police officer who was investigating a disturbance at an apartment on Winona Boulevard in Hollywood was accidentally shot by his partner Sunday. The suspect was also wounded.
Officer Anthony Lopez, 22, was in fair condition Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, after being shot in the thigh by his partner, Richard Ortiz, 41. Ortiz received a stab wound in the hand in the scuffle with the suspect and was treated and released. The suspect, Wayne Martin, was in serious condition at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, with three gunshot wounds.
Police Lt. William Hall said that both officers fired at Martin when he charged Ortiz with a steak knife. One of Ortiz’s bullets struck Lopez, but police said they are unsure if it was a poorly aimed shot or a bullet that passed through Martin. Hall said that Ortiz has been with the department for 16 years. Lopez has been an officer for a year.
Martin has been booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer.
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