Local News in Brief : Courthouse Attack Suspect Wounded

A security guard at the county courthouse in downtown Los Angeles shot and wounded a transient who had wrestled away his baton and attacked him with it, authorities said.

Bill Polacek, supervisor of the data processing department for the Superior Court, said he was coming down an escalator to the second floor of the courthouse about 3 p.m. Thursday when he saw a security guard bleeding from the head and a man walking away with the guard’s baton.

“There were two security guards and they were saying, ‘Drop it! Drop it!’ ” Polacek said. But the man began swinging the night stick at the security guards, Polacek said, and the wounded guard “drew a gun” and fired once.

Paramedics treated Avery Jeffries, 38, for a wound to the left thigh. A deputy sheriff who works in the courthouse said Jeffries frequently panhandles in the jury waiting room.