The incident began when Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies heard the sound of gunfire just before 6 p.m. near Long Beach Boulevard and Oaks Street. When they arrived to the scene, they found a wounded victim and spotted the two suspects with an assault weapon in a car. Their condition was not known.
During the pursuit, deputies said one of the suspects opened fire with an AK-47. The deputies were not struck.
After a short chase, the suspect with the rifle got off the car and briefly barricaded himself inside a home before being captured. The other suspect drove off and slammed into a white car driven by an innocent motorist at the intersection of Alameda and Elm streets. The second suspect was captured after crashing about a block away.
The condition of the innocent driver was not known.
The incident comes as the national debate over gun control continues. The city of Los Angeles recently held a gun buyback to get weapons like the AK-47 in this case off the streets.
"Dealing with those high-caliber weapons is something that we don't want our deputies to encounter, but thankfully in this case our deputies used not only their training but they used their instincts," said sheriff's Capt. Joe Gooden.
Sheriff Lee Baca will hold a previously scheduled news conference Wednesday to discuss crime in Los Angeles County. He's expected to address this incident and the issue with assault rifles.
