Man Is Shot After Pointing Gun at Officers, Police Say

Los Angeles police shot and critically wounded a Tujunga man during a drug raid at his house when the man confronted narcotics officers with a gun, authorities said Wednesday.

John Gersboll, 39, was wounded in the chest, hip and left leg during the shooting at 10:45 p.m. Tuesday in the 9900 block of Tujunga Canyon Boulevard, said Lt. William Hall, head of the department’s officer-involved shooting team. Gersboll did not fire the gun he pointed at officers and no one else was injured, Hall said.

Gersboll was in critical but stable condition at Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills. Police said he will be arrested on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer when his condition permits.

The injured man’s wife, Samantha Gersboll, 43, was arrested on suspicion of weapons violations at the house after the shooting when police found a machine gun and a supply of illegal armor-piercing ammunition, Hall said.

The shooting followed an investigation of possible drug activity at the house that began Jan. 15, Hall said. Narcotics detectives secretly watching the house saw what appeared to be several drug transactions Tuesday evening, police said. Hall said a search warrant was obtained after a man police stopped as he left the house was found to be carrying a small amount of methamphetamine, a drug commonly known as “speed.”

Shortly before 10:45 p.m. a team of narcotics officers broke through the front door of the house while announcing themselves as police.

“They yelled, ‘Police!’ before they entered, and they were wearing clothes that clearly marked them as police,” Hall said, referring to police jackets routinely worn by officers on narcotics raids.

Officers Larry Voelker, 42, and David Nila, 40, were in the living room of the house when they were confronted by Gersboll, who was standing in a hallway pointing a .44 magnum revolver at them, Hall said.

The officers fired seven rounds at Gersboll, wounding and knocking him down before he could fire, Hall said.

During a search of the house, police found a small amount of methamphetamine and marijuana, an AR-15 submachine gun, a silencer, three stolen handguns and an undisclosed quantity of armor-piercing ammunition.

The department’s bomb squad was called to the house when two hand grenades were found on a shelf. Officers later determined they were only casings.

Hall said Samantha Gersboll has a federal firearms license to sell guns but was arrested on suspicion of weapons violations because she does not have the proper license to possess a machine gun or armor-piercing ammunition. She was being held at the Van Nuys jail.