Officer Wounds Youth Who Had Shot 2 Rivals

A reputed gang member opened fire on two rivals, wounding both, before being wounded himself by a passing Los Angeles police officer who saw the shooting from less than 20 feet away, authorities said Monday.

The reputed gang member, Darius Spencer, 18, apparently was so intent on shooting the men that he did not see uniformed officer Mark LaBonta nor the black and white cruiser in which LaBonta and his partner were driving, according to investigators.

Lt. William Hall, head of the LAPD team that investigates officer-involved shootings, said the incident occurred at 9:25 p.m. Sunday as the two officers passed a liquor store at Denker Avenue and Jefferson Boulevard while on routine patrol.

The officers, Hall said, noticed three men standing on the sidewalk outside the store. One of the men, whom Hall identified as Spencer, suddenly drew a .32-caliber revolver and shot the two men standing with him.

Fearing that the two would be killed, LaBonta, 32, who joined the force last year, drew a 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol and fired four times, hitting Spencer in the left hand, Hall said. Spencer then surrendered.

“It shocked the officers to see a shooting like that happen right in front of them because there they were, big as life, in a black and white,” Hall said. “It’s classic case of tunnel vision. (Spencer) told us afterward that the first time he saw the officers was when he was shot.”

Hall said the shooting was a reprisal for an earlier gang shooting.

Spencer’s wound was treated at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and he was booked into the center’s jail ward on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. The two men he allegedly shot, Kenneth Farmer, 28, and Kevin Stearns, 19, also were admitted to the medical center, each with multiple gunshot wounds.

They were listed in critical condition.

It was the second shooting of the day involving Los Angeles police officers.

Earlier Sunday, a Rampart division officer, Danny Contreras, 33, wounded Calvin Hall, 29, in the left arm after Hall allegedly threatened a woman with a gun in her Koreatown apartment. The woman was not injured.