Four Held in Shooting of Deputy

Four suspected gang members were being held Saturday on suspicion of attempted murder after an off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was shot in the chest late Friday in a drive-by shooting east of Hollywood, police said.

Howard Fuchs, 20, was in good condition at Hollywood Presbyterian-Queen of Angels Medical Center, said Detective Art Castro of the LAPD’s Rampart Division.

Castro said that Fuchs and another deputy were driving on Virgil Avenue near Santa Monica Boulevard when they were accosted by five suspected gang members in two cars.

When Fuchs left his car at 11:25 p.m. to call from a pay phone, someone inside one of the cars fired a rifle, Castro said. One of the cars then left and the other drove around the block and returned. A second shot was fired, hitting Fuchs, who was then in the car, police said.

Fuchs and the other deputy, identified by a Sheriff’s Department spokesman as Elizer Vera, 21, provided police descriptions and license plate numbers of the cars. Both were found within a few minutes, one of them at its owner’s home, Castro said.

Arrested were Michael Linz, 18, and William Guzman, 20, both of Los Angeles, and two juveniles. Guzman and Linz were being held at the Rampart Division jail. The two juveniles were taken to Eastside Juvenile Hall.

They will be charged with attempted murder of a peace officer. A fifth suspect is still being sought.

Police said the deputies did not know the suspects.