One Officer Wounded, Another Kills Suspect in Unrelated Shootings

An off-duty police officer was seriously wounded in a gunfight Friday with a man who tried to rob him as the officer stepped from a Baldwin Hills motel room, police said.

It was the fourth shooting involving a Los Angeles police officer since Sunday, including one Thursday night in which a 16-year-old boy was killed.

Officer John Harris, 32, was wounded in the hand and shoulder after exchanging shots with the unknown gunman who demanded money shortly before 3 a.m. in the corridor of the 37-room Baldwin Hills Motor Inn, Los Angeles Police Lt. William Hall said.

Harris was leaving his room to buy a snack from a vending machine when the shooting occurred, police said.

The officer, who works in the Wilshire Division, was listed in stable condition at a local hospital.

“They exchanged gunfire, the officer was hit and it’s possible the suspect was hit,” Hall said. “The officer was a registered guest at the motel.”

Police have not made any arrests, Hall said.

On Thursday about 8:45 p.m., three assailants surrounded a second off-duty officer at a pay phone in Alhambra and threatened him with what turned out to be a toy gun, Hall said.

Officer Billy Joe, 35, pulled out a 9-millimeter pistol and fired twice at a 16-year-old boy who was holding what turned out to be metal replica of a revolver. The boy, Everardo Trejo of Los Angeles, was taken to Alhambra Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.

Joe, who works in the Police Department’s gang detail, had stopped to use a pay phone in the 2000 block of West Valley Boulevard, police said.

“One suspect pointed a gun at the officer and demanded all his money while simultaneously another began to search the officer’s jacket pockets,” Officer Don Lawrence said.

After Joe drew his gun and fired, the other two suspects ran, police said. There have been no arrests. Joe has not returned to active patrol pending a standard departmental review of the shooting.

The shootings follow two attacks on uniformed police officers earlier this week.

Police are still seeking the gunman who opened fire Tuesday night on two officers at the Imperial Courts housing project in Watts. Officer Robert Cosner is recovering from gunshot wounds to his leg and upper body received in an attack police describe as an ambush.

Cosner and his partner, Officer Julie McAlpine, had been called to a domestic argument and were returning to their car at 114th Street and Gorman Avenue when a gunman opened fire at the two officers. McAlpine was not hurt.

No suspects have been arrested.

On Sunday night, two Los Angeles officers in North Hollywood were wounded after exchanging gunshots with an Ohio man, who was killed.

A car driven by Daniel Kozelka, 35, ran a stop sign on Vineland Avenue near Burbank Boulevard and was pulled over by Officers Jon Hurd and Richard Householder. After Kozelka got out of his car, officers said he reached for a .44-caliber revolver hidden in his waistband and started firing at them.

The police--who were wearing bulletproof vests--returned fire, killing Kozelka.

Martin Reiser, chief psychologist for the Police Department, said in an interview this week that such attacks on police “bring home the realities of the danger on the job.”

“But most of the recruits I talk to are aware of the dangers of the job going in,” Reiser said.

Patrol officers this week said the shootings served to remind them of the importance of using proper strategy and precautions.