Suspect shot, killed by CHP outside Cerritos shopping mall after exchange of gunfire

CERRITOS, Calif. (KABC) -- A suspect was shot and killed by a California Highway Patrol officer following an exchange of gunfire outside a Cerritos shopping mall Friday afternoon.

The shooting happened around 4 p.m. in the parking lot of the Los Cerritos Center after officers with the CHP's Southern Division Organized Retail Crime Task Force encountered three suspects who "were identified as being involved in criminal activity."

A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told Eyewitness News there was an exchange of gunfire between an officer and the suspects in a Dodge Charger.

Video footage circulating on social media shows shoppers scrambling amid the chaos. Mall employees told Eyewitness News the shooting prompted a lockdown inside stores such as Macy's. Nordstrom closed early because of the incident.

A person was wounded and taken to a hospital following an officer-involved shooting outside a Cerritos shopping mall.

Two of the suspects, a man and a woman, fled the scene and were later apprehended in Pico Rivera.

Authorities say the third suspect ran through the parking lot and pulled out a firearm before the "officer-involved shooting occurred."

That suspect was wounded and taken to a hospital. He was later pronounced dead.

Crime-scene tape blocked off a part of the parking lot of the mall as authorities investigated.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is assisting the CHP in the investigation. Investigators spent hours working out of a mobile command center in the parking lot.