Griffith Park became the locus of intense police activity on Tuesday morning following a report of a man with a gun near the Autry Museum of the American West. The Los Angeles Police Department responded at approximately 4:38 a.m., with officers descending on the 4700 block of Western Heritage Way, CBS Los Angeles reported, which is located across from the Los Angeles Zoo and the Autry Museum.
As the situation escalated, the L.A. Zoo announced through an official statement that it would not open as scheduled, while the nearby museum followed suit, as noted by KTLA. Access to the area became restricted, with the California Highway Patrol issuing a SigAlert around 6:25 a.m., closing off the Zoo Drive offramps on the 5 Freeway and the eastbound Zoo Drive offramp on the 134 Freeway but a large police response including at least five marked vehicles, centered around a black SUV in the museum's parking lot, was aired by Sky5 around 8:15 a.m.
According to FOX LA, law enforcement officials, fearing the presence of a firearm, initiated negotiations for a peaceful resolution with the individual in the SUV, though it was initially unclear whether they were armed. The standoff led to the temporary closure of both the Los Angeles Zoo and the Autry Museum of the American West, and the freeway exits to Zoo Drive were closed at the LAPD's request.
By 11:20 a.m., the lingering tension gave way to resolution with the suspect being taken into custody, as confirmed by the L.A.P.D. Officer Cervantes, while no immediate details on the arrest were released, the L.A. Zoo later opened its doors to the public around 1 p.m., and the closed freeway ramps and surrounding roads were reopened, as per FOX LA.
