Suspect, 2 Deputies Injured in Shootout

A suspect wanted for domestic violence allegedly opened fire on two sheriff’s deputies Monday morning after a traffic stop, triggering a gun battle on a Florence-area street that left all three wounded, authorities said.

Deputies Adam Kirste and Omar Miranda, both 29, were treated at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood after the midmorning shootout for wounds that were not life-threatening, said Los Angeles County Undersheriff Larry Waldie.

The suspect, Juan Carlos Campos, 33, was listed in critical condition at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center with four gunshot wounds to his chest, a leg, a hand and his face, Waldie said. “The suspect shot first,” he said. “Our guys were incredibly lucky.”

Most of the Sheriff’s Department’s deputies ride alone. Waldie said the pairing of Kirste and Miranda might have been a key factor in their survival. “Thank God there were two deputies in this car,” he said. “If it had been a one-man car, I don’t know what could have happened.”

Steve Whitmore, a sheriff’s spokesman, said Kirste and Miranda were paired because the department assigns two deputies to a patrol car at the Century Station, which serves an unincorporated county area with a high crime rate.

The shooting is likely to renew concerns previously voiced by the sheriff’s deputies union, the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, that too many deputies work alone on patrol while their Los Angeles Police Department colleagues ride two to a cruiser.

Kirste was shot in the leg and buttocks, and Miranda was wounded in the hand and elbow during the 10:15 a.m. shootout near Compton Avenue and 70th Street.

The gunfire erupted after the deputies stopped a car in which Campos was riding after running a computer check on the license plate and finding that the owner was wanted on a warrant for felony domestic violence. Deputies asked the female driver the name of the passenger, and she identified him as Campos.

The suspect “bolted from the car and ran down the street,” Waldie said. “The deputies ran after him and knocked him down. He jumped up, ran again, then turned and capped off his 9-millimeter at the deputies.”

Waldie said both deputies returned fire despite being wounded, knocking the suspect down.

If Campos survives his wounds, he is expected to be booked on two counts of attempted murder on a police officer, authorities said.

The driver was questioned but not detained.