1 Dead, 2 L. A. Officers Hurt in Shootout

Two Los Angeles police officers were wounded in a gun battle that left one person dead and another wounded following a liquor store robbery in Thousand Oaks late Monday, authorities said.

The shootout occurred about 9:45 p.m. on Lawrence Drive near Hillcrest Drive in an industrial area at the west end of the city, authorities said.

Details of the incident were sketchy. But according to Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Chuck Buttell, the two police officers had followed the suspects from Los Angeles as part of an undercover surveillance.

The officers later saw the suspects rob Southwest Liquor & Deli at 108 W. Hillcrest Drive, Buttell said. A short time later, the officers pulled over the suspects’ vehicle on Lawrence Drive.

“As soon as the traffic stop was made, the shooting started,” Buttell said.

Buttell said the officers, who were in plain clothes and traveling in an unmarked car, had not notified the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department about their surveillance.

The two police officers were each shot in the lower abdomen, he said. One was reported in critical condition and the other in serious condition at Los Robles Regional Medical Center, Buttell said.

One of the two male suspects was pronounced dead at the scene. The other was taken to St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo. His condition was not known.