A slow-speed police pursuit that began in Westlake ended in gunfire in Koreatown, with a suspect taken into custody after officers opened fire near the end of the chase. The Los Angeles Police Department said the incident involved a man with a gun, and that spike strips disabled his pickup truck before the shooting unfolded.
According to ABC7, LAPD's Rampart Division initiated the pursuit near 3rd Street and Rampart Boulevard in Westlake. The outlet reported that spike strips were deployed and successfully disabled the suspect's pickup truck as the chase crept toward Koreatown, and that LAPD confirmed a shooting involving officers occurred during the incident.
The two outlets covering the shooting differ on exactly where the pursuit came to a stop. ABC7 placed the end of the chase near Berendo Street and 1st Street in Koreatown, while a separate report from NBC Los Angeles put it near Berendo and Council streets, around 8 p.m., just before the shooting occurred. Neither account has been reconciled.
What's Known About the Shooting
The station's report said the driver was taken into custody and transported from the scene in unknown condition, and that no officers were injured. The circumstances surrounding the shooting itself — including what led officers to fire — were not immediately released, and the outlet described its coverage as a developing story that would be updated as more information became available.
NBC Los Angeles reported additional details, saying police believed the suspect had a gun and that it remained unclear whether he was struck by gunfire. That outlet also reported that two people were taken to the hospital following the pursuit and shooting, though their identities and conditions were not specified. NBC Los Angeles further reported that LAPD said no officers appeared to be injured and that the investigation was ongoing.
A Pattern of Risk in LAPD Pursuits
The Koreatown shooting is the latest in a string of LAPD pursuits that have ended in gunfire, crashes, or injuries across the neighborhood and beyond. A separate LAPD pursuit in Koreatown previously ended in a three-car crash that killed an uninvolved motorist and injured three others, according to the Los Angeles Times. In a 2020 incident in the same area, a suspect allegedly fired at officers during a pursuit and struck their patrol car with several rounds, though the officers were not hurt, KTLA reported at the time.
The Los Angeles Times has also tracked the broader toll of LAPD pursuits department-wide, reporting at least 4,203 chases since 2018, with roughly a quarter — 1,032 — resulting in a collision that caused injuries or death. Of those injury crashes, 496 bystanders were hurt and nine were killed, compared with 462 fleeing suspects injured and five killed in that same span. Sixty LAPD officers were injured during chases over that period, the paper reported, though none have died.
More than three-fourths of pursuit collisions happen within the first five minutes of a chase, according to the Times, and the average pursuit speed clocks in at 46 mph. A 2017 grand jury found that police chases in Los Angeles County were causing unnecessary bystander injuries and deaths, and a separate Times analysis found that one in 10 LAPD-initiated chases between 2006 and 2014 resulted in civilian injuries. A grand jury report also found that 17% of county car chases in a 12-month period beginning in October 2015 ended in a crash that could have caused injury or death.
Not every LAPD pursuit ends in a collision or gunfire. A pursuit of a robbery suspect near Koreatown once stretched on for roughly two hours, with passengers exiting the car and the driver appearing to throw items toward a nearby home before surrendering, CBS Los Angeles reported, and a 2024 downtown chase ended when a police cruiser struck a fixed object at 12th Street and Broadway, leaving officers with only minor, non-life-threatening injuries, per the Los Angeles Times. Phoenix prohibits misdemeanor pursuits.
Thursday's shooting remains under investigation, and key questions — including what prompted officers to fire and the current condition of the driver — had not been answered as of the latest reporting.
