A man was hospitalized in critical but stable condition today after being shot several times in a traffic-stop confrontation with a Long Beach police officer, authorities said.
The shooting occurred in the 50 block of East 51st Street near Atlantic Avenue at 11:56 p.m. Thursday, said Long Beach police Lt. Paul LeBaron.
An officer saw the suspect's car speeding on Atlantic Avenue and pulled it over at 51st near Linden Avenue, LeBaron said. The suspect immediately got out of his car and when the officer ordered him to remain where he was, he drew a handgun, he said.
The officer fired several rounds, striking the suspect in the lower torso, LeBaron said. The suspect was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries, he said, adding that the officer was unhurt.
LeBaron said before dawn today that he did not know ``if the suspect fired the weapon,'' which was recovered. The suspect is expected to be booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon against a police officer and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, he said.
This was the fourth officer-involved shooting for the Long Beach Police Department since Dec. 31. One of them involved a dog.
On April 19, a man in his 30s who fatally shot
a another man at a gas station near the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Pacific Avenue, then fired on responding officers.
On Dec. 31, less than a half-hour before the new year, officers shot and
wounded a who picked up a dropped handgun and charged them after they responded to the sound of gunfire in the 1700 block of Cherry Street.
On May 13, an officer shot and killed a that attacked a woman
walking her dogs near the 300 block of East Coolidge Street.
