Deputies near La Mirada shot two people in car that reversed toward them, authorities say
Authorities identified two suspects and released more details about what led Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies to shoot and injure two people, including one of the suspects, on Wednesday.
The shooting occurred shortly before 2:40 p.m. in the 14500 block of Chere Drive in an unincorporated area near La Mirada, according to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.
Deputies from the Norwalk station tried to contact the occupants of a blue sedan that was parked in the driveway of a home because they believed an auto theft suspect was inside the car, according to the agency.
As deputies approached, a man in the driver’s seat started backing the car toward them, and the deputies opened fire, authorities said. The driver continued backing up, crashed into the deputies’ patrol car and tried driving away.
The sedan crashed into a wall and was found disabled in the nearby intersection of Telegraph Road and Armsdale Avenue, deputies said.
Footage from KABC-TV Channel 7 on Wednesday showed the silver sedan with several bullet holes on its driver’s side.
California’s attorney general will investigate the shooting death of a bystander at the scene where L.A. County deputies shot a suspect in Norwalk.
The driver and another man fled on foot before they were captured nearby, deputies said. A woman in her early 20s was found in the car suffering gunshot wounds to her upper body.
She was taken to a nearby hospital, treated and released, according to the Sheriff’s Department. She was not arrested.
On Thursday, the department identified the driver as 20-year-old Adrian Romero.
He suffered gunshot wounds to one of his legs and was taken to a hospital, where he was stable, deputies said.
Romero was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer and will be booked into jail when he’s released from the hospital, deputies said.
His brother, 21-year-old Aldo Romero, was identified Thursday as the third person in the car, deputies said. He was detained by concerned residents in a backyard near where the car was disabled.
Aldo Romero, who was not injured, had a loaded, semiautomatic pistol in his waistband, deputies said. He was booked on a vehicle theft warrant and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
A deputy was hit by the sedan during the incident and was taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released, authorities said.
An investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to call the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.
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