Carjacking Suspect Hospitalized After Being Shot by Police

A 15-year-old boy was in critical condition Tuesday after being shot late Sunday by West Covina police officers who thought the alleged carjacker was armed, authorities said.

At the request of West Covina Police Chief John Distelrath, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has launched an investigation of the shooting to determine, among other things, whether the juvenile had a gun. A search for a weapon at the shooting site Monday morning was unsuccessful, authorities said.

The incident began about 10 p.m. Sunday, when the youth approached a 25-year-old woman in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant on Hacienda Boulevard in La Puente, police said. With his hand inside his shirt, apparently simulating a gun, the youth ordered the woman out and fled in the car, police said. The victim was not harmed.

West Covina police saw the car about two hours later and, after a short pursuit, the juvenile stopped near Bainbridge and California avenues and ran away, authorities said.

Two police officers chased him, repeatedly ordering the teenager to stop, authorities said. When the boy abruptly turned around in the dimly lit area, police said, he appeared to be holding an object that they believed to be a gun. One of the officers fired a single shot that struck the boy in the lower torso. He was taken to Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina.