Deputy, Suspect Wounded in Blue Line Shooting

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was accidentally shot and a suspect was wounded by another deputy Thursday afternoon as the two officers attempted to intervene in a robbery on a Metro Blue Line train in Long Beach, authorities said.

The suspect was shot in the neck and the bullet then struck the deputy in the arm about 4:30 p.m. during the scuffle on the platform at Long Beach Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway, authorities said. The suspect allegedly was attempting to grab one deputy’s gun when he was shot by the other deputy.

“We believe only one round was fired, and it was fired by the deputy,” said Sheriff’s Capt. Ray Peavy. The injured deputy suffered “a relatively minor wound,” he said.

The deputy who fired the shot acted prudently under the circumstances, Peavy said. The names of the two deputies were not immediately released.

“This all happened very quickly,” Peavy said. “Obviously, in the deputy’s mind, the suspect was going to take the gun from the other deputy.”

The two deputies were assigned to check fares on the train when a passenger informed them that he had just been robbed, Peavy said. The deputies saw four men running from the scene and chased them.

One suspect got into a scuffle with the deputies as the others fled, Peavy said.

The suspect, who was armed but dropped his gun, was pulling on the weapon of one deputy when he was shot by the other deputy, Peavy said.

Passenger Monique Logan, 30, said she was sitting in the first train car when she heard the gunshot. “I just saw everyone jump up, so I jumped up,” she said.

A short time later, she said, she saw deputies holding down one of the men on the platform. “They were laying on him,” she said.

The wounded deputy and suspect were taken by ambulances to local hospitals. The suspect was listed in stable condition late Thursday, authorities said.

Times staff writer Nancy Wride contributed to this report.