Police Wound Heavily Armed Man

Los Angeles police officers shot and wounded a heavily armed man in Wilmington on Tuesday, ending a nine-hour incident after he threatened officers inside the home of his girlfriend, authorities said.

Matthew J. McCarthy, 35, of Wilmington was seriously wounded in the abdomen after police opened fire on him about 11 a.m. in the 800 block of Lagoon Avenue, a low-income neighborhood of apartments and houses off Anaheim Street.

McCarthy was listed in critical condition at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance. He was being held on charges of attempted murder of a police officer.

Lt. Horace Frank, a Police Department spokesman, said McCarthy was armed with a TEC-9 semiautomatic weapon and had made threatening remarks to officers who found him in the house.

The TEC-9 is the civilian version of a military submachine gun. Authorities said it is one of the more popular weapons among street gangs and other criminals because it is powerful and compact.

Frank said the incident began about 2 a.m. a few blocks north of Lagoon Avenue when McCarthy fled from officers as they tried to stop him for a traffic ticket. Frank did not disclose what the violation was.

A few minutes later, McCarthy abandoned his car and ran to his girlfriend’s house about a block away, Frank said. Although the woman and her father walked out of the house after police arrived, McCarthy could not be found.

SWAT team members fired several rounds of tear gas into the house and then entered it. Frank said they found a pistol and what turned out to be a practice grenade, which was safely disposed of by the police bomb squad.

“We fired tear gas and there was no response,” Frank said. “When the SWAT team entered, they couldn’t find him. He may have been hiding or had left the residence. We don’t know. There are several scenarios.”

For most of the morning and early afternoon, authorities closed off an area bounded by West Opp Street, Island Avenue, West Anaheim Street, Neptune Avenue and Fries Avenue. Additional officers and a police helicopter were called to help search for McCarthy.

Investigators reentered the house about 11 a.m. and discovered the suspect. Officers fired “multiple rounds” at McCarthy when he pointed the TEC-9 at them, Frank said.

Authorities said McCarthy was wanted in connection with several crimes, but they declined to provide specifics.

By Tuesday afternoon, only the area within half a block of the Lagoon Avenue house was still cordoned off. Children and neighbors pushed against the yellow police tape to get a look at the house and the patrol cars that lined the street.

“This is generally a quiet neighborhood,” said Benjamin Udave, who lives on Lagoon. “I heard all the loudspeakers and the helicopters going, but stayed inside. There hasn’t been anything like this for a while.”