Los Angeles, CA: Suspect in LAPD officer's shooting is found dead

SYLMAR - A Los Angeles police officer was shot and critically wounded Monday in a confrontation with a domestic violence suspect, who withstood tear gas and an all-day standoff but was later discovered dead inside his home, police said.
 
Officer Steve Jenkins, a 22-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, was listed in critical but stable condition after suffering gunshots to his face and shoulder, doctors said. He will require reconstructive surgery to his jaw.
 
"The patient will survive his injuries ... but not without complications," said Dr. Bradley Roth, a trauma surgeon at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center.
The suspect, identified in media reports as Sergio O. Salazar, 53, was found dead inside

 

the home Monday night, a rifle near his body, police said. He had barricaded himself inside the two-story house all day and resisted officers' attempts to flush him out with tear gas.

Jenkins - whose wife and son are also on the LAPD - was among several officers who responded to a domestic violence call Sunday night in the 13600 block of Dronfield Avenue. The suspect's wife, described as "badly battered," had called police from a neighbor's home.
 
After several attempts to contact the suspect, the officers approached the home around 2:15 a.m., according to police Chief Charlie Beck. The suspect began firing from inside the house and struck Jenkins, a K-9 officer with the downtown-based Metropolitan Division, police said. The other officers retreated to assist Jenkins and he was rushed to Providence Holy Cross, where he underwent surgery.
 
"This points out the danger of this profession when there are so many guns out there," Beck said.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa met with Jenkins' wife and son Monday morning.
"Our thoughts are with them," Villaraigosa said. "Domestic violence cases are the one most dreaded by officers. You don't know what will happen."
 
Police closed off a six-block area around the two-story home in a gated community and set up an evacuation center at Sylmar High School.
The suspect remained barricaded inside the home all day and resisted multiple attempts to force him out - again exchanging gunfire with officers after they fired tear gas into the home shortly after 10 a.m. No officers were wounded in that gunfight, but it was unclear if the suspect was struck.
The suspect continued to peer out the windows and periodically take random shots at the officers, until they later deployed a more powerful "hot gas" into the home.
 
With no more sightings of the suspect after that, SWAT officers pried open a section of the home with a hydraulic crane called a "Bad Cat." They then deployed a robot, equipped with a camera and the ability to move around the home.
 
Police eventually found the suspect's body on the second floor of the home with a rifle by his side. They continued to investigate the scene into the night to determine if he had been shot during the gunfire or if he had taken his own life.
 
Jenkins suffered two gunshot wounds, doctors said. One bullet entered his upper right jaw and exited his lower left mandible. The other punctured his left shoulder, just below his clavicle, before exiting his chest.
The shoulder wound caused lung damage, several broken ribs and massive internal bleeding, Roth said.
Within five minutes of entering the hospital, the K-9 officer was put on a breathing tube, his breathing stabilized, with two chest tubes to drain excess blood.
 
"Presently, the patient is sedated. He is on a breathing machine," said Roth, speaking with permission of the policeman's wife. "He is more or less stable."
"He will require multiple operations to his mandible."
 
Providence Holy Cross, which handled several other traumas Monday, held a blood drive to help Jenkins and replenish its supplies. The public outpouring was so strong, according to hospital spokeswoman Pat Aidem, that the hospital had to add a second bloodmobile to keep up and plans to continue the drive today.
About 100 pints of blood were donated Monday, Aidem said, and it was so crowded that some people had to wait up to two hours to donate.
 
"It was amazing," Aidem said. "I've had calls from the public today - from people who are traveling 20, 30 miles who want to come give blood. They heard about it from officers all over L.A. Many of the donors are LAPD who are here for their comrade."
 
At this point, she said, the officer's need for blood has been taken care of, but additional donations are welcome in Jenkins' honor to help boost the hospital's general supply.