Deputy Shot, Critically Hurt

A off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was shot and critically wounded Thursday night, apparently while trying to stop a robbery at a flower shop in La Mirada, authorities said.

Carlos Ponce, 43, was one of three law enforcement officers shot Thursday in two separate incidents. Two Los Angeles Police Department officers were wounded earlier Thursday in Lake View Terrace after responding to a domestic disturbance call.

Ponce, a sheriff’s deputy since 1982, was hit in the cheek about 7:30 p.m. at a Conroy’s Flowers outlet in the 14200 block of East Imperial Highway, authorities said.

The bullet lodged in his clavicle, and he was in critical but stable condition late Thursday at an Irvine hospital, officials said.

Earlier Thursday, the two LAPD officers were shot when a man described by authorities as mentally ill fired an assault weapon at them, police said.

Officer Don Boon, 32, was struck in the hip, and his partner, Manuel Solis, 24, was grazed across the face by flying fragments, police said. After Boon was shot by the gunman, who apparently was standing beside the house, Solis dragged his partner to safety behind a car.

At least three other officers returned fire during the rescue, said LAPD Lt. Anthony Alba.

The shootings Thursday in Lake View Terrace and in La Mirada follow by two weeks the fatal slaying of LAPD Officer Steve Gajda. He was killed by an alleged gang member while trying to break up a raucous New Year’s Eve party in Boyle Heights.

Details of the shooting in La Mirada remained sketchy late Thursday night.

Ponce, assigned to an anti-gang detail based at the sheriff’s station in Lynwood, interrupted “some sort of crime in progress, perhaps a robbery,” at the shop, said sheriff’s Sgt. Susan Cross.

“He tried to stop it and got shot,” she said.

At a gas station in the next block, cashier Epifano Horta, 30, said, “I heard four shots.”

Speaking to reporters late Thursday at UC Irvine Medical Center, Sheriff Sherman Block said Ponce’s vital signs were good. Block said the deputy was awake and talking.

In La Mirada, sheriff’s officials launched an intense search for the gunman.

Earlier in the day, meanwhile, the shooting in Lake View Terrace--which prompted a radio call for help--drew Officers sent out a radio call for help, drawing dozens of patrol cars and the LAPD SWAT team.

After about an hour, as officers surrounded the home, Reynaldo Rivera surrendered and was taken into custody unhurt. He had been hiding in his Kathyann Street house, which was pocked with bullet holes from the brief shootout, authorities said.

One witness, neighbor Sylvia Franco, said Rivera told arresting officers, “I didn’t shoot, I didn’t shoot.”

LAPD officers recovered an assault rifle, reportedly an AR-15, that they suspect was used in the shooting.

Boon and Solis were responding to a 911 call from Rivera’s wife, who said her husband was mentally ill and had a gun, police said. Boon was hit almost immediately when the suspect opened fire, Alba said.

Both Solis and Boon were taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills.

One police source said officers from the Foothill Division responded last week to a complaint about a mentally ill person at Rivera’s house. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said officers seized a .45 caliber handgun there.

Dr. Charles Deng, the emergency room physician who treated the injured LAPD officers, said Solis was apparently hit by fragments that ricocheted during the shooting. He suffered small puncture wounds to his nose and right cheek, and was treated and released from the hospital Thursday afternoon. Police say he was struck by bits of cinderblock.

Boon, who has worked for the LAPD for 3 1/2 years, was shot in the left hip and was expected to remain in the hospital overnight. He was expected to undergo a CAT scan, and possibly surgery to check for any internal injuries.

Solis, who was born in Mexico, is unmarried and has no children. He has been with the LAPD for 2 1/2 years.

LAPD Sgt. Stephany Payne said of the two partners: “They’re very lucky.” Payne added that officers are grateful “we don’t have to go through another funeral.”

Dennis Zine, vice president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, said he thinks the risk of being a law enforcement officer is on the rise.

“They say that crime is decreasing, but there’s a growing lack of respect for police officers out there,” Zine said. “It’s a frightening job at times.”

Times staff writers Roberto Manzano, David Colker and T. Christian Miller contributed to this story.