A South Los Angeles man is staring down a potentially massive prison term after a rifle round tore through the tail of an LAPD helicopter hovering over his neighborhood, narrowly missing key control systems and everyone on board, authorities said.
Jurors on Friday found 62-year-old Douglass Byers guilty in the airborne scare, which unfolded above a densely populated stretch of South L.A. last year. No officers or residents were hurt, but the conviction after a four-day trial now sets him up for what could be decades behind bars at sentencing.
Verdict and charges
Byers was convicted of two counts of assault on a peace officer and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the Los Angeles Times. He chose to represent himself at trial, and jurors needed less than an hour of deliberations to return guilty verdicts.
Prosecutors told the court he could face up to 43 years in prison when he is sentenced.
What officers found and the flight risk
The case began last August, when officers were called to the 1800 block of West 38th Street after multiple 911 callers reported gunfire coming from a backyard. Police recovered an AR-15, two Airsoft replica rifles, and about 18 spent shell casings, according to court records.
The LAPD helicopter that had responded to the call was later found to have taken a hit: an inspection revealed a bullet had punched through its tail. Prosecutors said the round came perilously close to crippling the aircraft’s control systems while a pilot and tactical officer were hovering above the neighborhood.
“If that shot had just been a little bit further down, that aircraft would have fallen,” the deputy district attorney told jurors, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Defendant's account
On the stand, Byers insisted he had no grudge against law enforcement. He told jurors he was inebriated when officers arrived, saying he had smoked marijuana and drunk tequila earlier.
Byers said he bought the rifle in Cleveland in 2017 and kept it for self-defense. He acknowledged using methamphetamine occasionally but denied having used it in the days just before his arrest.
His mother told investigators he had been “suffering from terminal cancer and acting irrationally” in the days leading up to the shooting, the court heard.
Legal picture
Prosecutors won convictions under California laws that carry steep penalties when weapons are used against officers and when a convicted felon has a gun. Under state law, assault on a peace officer with certain firearms can result in multi-year prison terms, and firearm possession by a convicted felon is a straight felony.
The relevant statutes include California Penal Code §245 and Penal Code §29800, which spell out the elements of the crimes and the potential penalties.
Local context
Shooting at police aircraft is rare but taken extremely seriously in Los Angeles because of the obvious risk to flight crews and people on the ground. In an earlier case, a man received a 25-year prison sentence after opening fire on an LAPD helicopter, underscoring how aggressively prosecutors pursue these kinds of crimes, according to LAist.
Local outlets and broadcasters have also reported other recent incidents in which police air support drew gunfire while assisting ground units, a pattern prosecutors pointed to while arguing that Byers should face a harsh sentence.
Sentencing has not yet been scheduled. The case remains in Los Angeles County Superior Court as prosecutors and the defense prepare filings ahead of the judge’s final hearing.
