Toddler Hostage Dies in Standoff

A 17-month-old girl was killed Sunday night in a shootout between police and a gun-wielding man who held her in his arms on a South Los Angeles street as he shot and wounded a SWAT officer in the shoulder, authorities said. The suspect, identified as Jose Raul Lemos, also died at the scene.

“He was using the baby as a shield. Officers used as much restraint as humanly possible,” said Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell of the Los Angeles Police Department. “We did our best. It was tremendous stress.... The suspect dictated the outcome.” “Our deepest sympathies go to the family,” he said.

The wounded officer, who was not identified, was taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and was expected to recover, said LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon.

The shooting came more than two hours into a tense hostage situation that began about 3:50 p.m. with a call to police reporting that an armed man was standing near the intersection of 104th Street and Avalon Boulevard holding a gun in one hand and a child in the other.

Lemos appeared “despondent and crazed,” Vernon said.

Police said Lemos was armed with one weapon and was randomly shooting into the street. Officers said they believed that he was on drugs or intoxicated.

After Lemos fired shots in the direction of the first officer on the scene, the officer fired back but did not hit him, police said.

Lemos then retreated into an apartment building, where police said he held the girl, who was a relative, as a hostage.

Additional officers, including hostage negotiators, soon arrived at the scene, and the LAPD went on tactical alert.

Negotiations with Lemos continued for nearly two hours as members of LAPD’s SWAT team communicated with him by phone. The department also used psychologists and crisis specialists and gave Lemos numerous opportunities to surrender, McDonnell said.

Just after 5 p.m., police exchanged gunfire with Lemos as they tried to give cover to a woman trapped in the standoff. She escaped safely.

About 6:20 p.m., Lemos emerged from the building with the toddler. He was holding a weapon and again firing erratically, shooting an LAPD tactical officer in the shoulder.

As other officers moved in to rescue their wounded colleague, police exchanged gunfire with Lemos. The girl also was hit.

Police said it was unclear who fired the shot that killed the girl.

Lemos’ rampage may have been spurred by a custody battle, Vernon said, but declined to give details. His exact relationship to the 17-month-old girl was not released by police.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa visited the shooting scene Sunday night and also went to the hospital to meet the wounded officer and his family.

LAPD regulations state that officers should fire only “when it reasonably appears necessary” to protect themselves or others from death or serious injury.

LAPD officers have fired on hostage-takers in other instances, including a November standoff at the Mexican Consulate when an officer who had SWAT training fatally wounded Manuel Ortiz Gonzalez, 19, who was holding a pregnant woman hostage at gunpoint. The gun was later discovered to be a starter pistol. Gonzalez died at a hospital. His hostage was unhurt.

Sunday’s shooting shocked neighbors.

Robert Cole, 69, said he left his apartment to see what was going on after he saw the street full of LAPD patrol cars and officers.

“If there was one, there was 50,” said Cole, who lives two doors down from the scene of the hostage situation.

Cole said officers told him that he had to go back inside. From his window, he said he could not see what was taking place but still listened. About an hour after police told him he couldn’t stay outside, Cole said he heard gunfire.

“I said, ‘Gee whiz, that was heavy gunfire,’ ” said Cole, who served five years in the Navy. “It was heavy caliber and it sounded like a 9-millimeter to me.”

Cole said he heard several shots and two different types of gunfire. Although he said it was not unusual to hear an occasional shot fired in the neighborhood late at night, the timing -- before dark -- and the number of shots surprised him.

He said he had grown accustomed to fireworks still being set off in the wake of the Fourth of July holiday, but knew the difference immediately.

“I can tell a gunshot from a firework,” he said. “I can tell that any day.”

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Times staff writers Cara Mia DiMassa and Megan Garvey contributed to this report.

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--- UNPUBLISHED NOTE ---

In a story the next day--on Tuesday July 12-- this suspect is identified as Raul Pena, superceding the police’s original identification as Jose Raul Lemos.

--- END NOTE ---