Police address shooting
AZUSA – The excitement of the 2016 presidential race was punctuated with an election-day shootout. As East Coast polling places closed at 2 p.m. PST, shots were fired in the Memorial Park neighborhood, prompting a shutdown of the 210 freeway and a lockdown of two schools, while voting screeched to a halt.
Azusa and Irwindale PDs blanketed Fourth St. and Orange Ave., Northeast of the Vernon Avenue off-ramp, and secured the surrounding areas as L.A. County Sheriff’s coordinated communications.
A woman was walking with her 9-month-old son to the polling center at Slauson Middle School when she encountered two white cars that had collided head-on, one with a deployed airbag. Two shots followed by a rain of gunfire sent her running away.
At 3 PM, NBC air footage showed a female officer at patrol car #63 with an AR15 rifle pointed north. Triage moved to Orange and Fifth as L.A. County Fire Dept. Air Rescue 5 loaded two shooting victims for airlift to nearby hospitals.
Initial reports revealed up to five victims caught in the crossfire, clothing on the ground, and a trail of blood.
Parents gathering to pick up their schoolchildren were told to leave the area.
The woman and her baby were taken to Slauson Middle School, and were locked in along with 25 others, including poll workers.
At 3:09 PM, police found the suspect seated on the front porch of a house, with two Bearcats in the area and the SWAT Team on the way. Trees obscured coverage, as footage revealed one Bearcat in front of the house.
Acting Police Chief Steve Hunt said the unidentified suspect shot at officers who were helping wounded victims. They returned fire and killed the shooter.
Hundreds of rounds of ammunition were found. One man was killed in the incident and two victims are in critical condition, while officials search for a motive for the murderous cocaine binge.
